


Until All The Magic is Gone

by MelodyMannix



Category: Harry Potter - Fandom
Genre: Canon Divergence - Post-Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, F/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-31
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-18 08:00:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 37,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29114904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MelodyMannix/pseuds/MelodyMannix
Summary: Kat Warner has been friends with Fred and George Weasley since their first term at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Now in their sixth year, the TriWizard Tournament is taking over Hogwarts. With secrets and lies alongside long-hidden crushes and fears of the future, Kat's sixth year is going to change everything.
Relationships: Fred Weasley/Original Female Character(s), George Weasley & Original Character(s)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 13





	1. Sneaking Out

Chapter 1: Sneaking Out

It was a loud crashing sound that jolted Kat out of her daze. It had sounded like a bottle hit a wall and shattered somewhere downstairs, probably the drawing-room, but Kat couldn’t be sure. It was a relatively common noise in Warner Manor, things breaking, at least late at night. Not that there was anyone but Kat and Neely, the House Elf, to hear them.

Kat sighed softly through her nose and tried to focus on the letter in her hand. Small, rushed letters cluttered the folded page. Kat could practically hear the voice that had written it. There were a few ink drops around the paper as if it had been written in haste. Then there was the smell, the most common smell in the world. Paper and ink. Then something else. Like melted sugar and mint. Even if no one had signed it, Kat would have known who had written that letter even if she was blind and couldn’t read it. 

A strange, small, and overly excited owl had swooped into Kat’s dark, cold bedroom through the open window and dropped the letter off nearly an hour ago. The little ball of feathers sat happily next to Kat for a time, chirping and flapping its wings. She supposed it was waiting for a response to come back. It had finally left 10 minutes ago when it was clear Kat was nowhere near finishing the letter, let alone constructing a response. It wasn’t that it was a long letter or a complex one; her mind was just simply elsewhere. She found it hard to focus on anything too long when her parents fought like this. Kat started the letter over again for what felt like the hundredth time. 

Darling Kat,

Dad got us tickets to the Quidditch World Cup! Dad said we could invite you and Boston if she wanted to go, that is. I know she doesn’t like us much, but we can convince her. As long as Fred keeps his foot out of his mouth. That’s likely.  
Come home whenever.

Mum is already expecting you and Boston, and you know how much she loves you. Gin is excited to see you too. Bill and Charlie are here as well. I’m sure you’ll be happy to see them. It’ll be the whole family if you come.  
Save us from our Katless summer.  
-George.

Kat smiled. George.

Of course, it had been George who wrote the letter. Kat read over the letter, again and again, continually getting caught up on one word. “Home.” 

George and Fred Weasley, or the Twins as most people called them, had been Kat’s best friends since her first day at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry when they had been 11. Kat had also met a very quiet girl on her first day. Boston had later become closer than a sister to Kat in the years that followed.

Being from a pureblood wizard family, it seemed like everyone expected that she would go to the best school for witchcraft possible. Pureblood wizards were ones whose family were all wizards, an uninterrupted line of magic. There were only around 28 families left that could claim they were utterly pureblood, though it was mostly through incest that they kept hold of that title.

Kat’s father had argued that Hogwarts was no longer the best wizarding school, as it was now under Albus Dumbledore’s leadership. He had wanted her to go to the Beauxbatons Academy in France instead, though her mother wouldn’t allow it, saying that her heart would break at the thought of Kat being in a different country altogether. Kat never wanted to point out that Scotland was technically a foreign country.

Most everyone assumed that she would also follow along with the family and get into Slytherin house, one of the four houses at Hogwarts. Slytherin house was for the cunning and ambitious, though it had gained a reputation for being a home for dark wizards over the years. Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw were for the brave, loyal, and witty. Kat had been placed in the Gryffindor house to her parents’ mortification, known more for acting without thinking more than anything else. That’s where she met Fred, George, and Boston, her three closest and best friends. 

Kat thought on the word home again as a string of shouting started anew and wondered how many other houses sounded like this, and no one knew. It was her father’s voice that trailed up the stairs, and past the closed door of her room, “...my house, I can do as I please!” Kat was only catching bits and pieces of the argument raging a floor below her. It was getting unbearable in that house, a fight nearly every other day.

They hadn’t fought this much in so long. Kat could remember being very little and hiding under her bed, waiting for all the yelling to stop. She didn’t hide under her bed anymore.

“...and 13 years ago you promised you were done,” her mother’s voice, high and shrill, came crashing through Kat’s closed door. She sounded like she was on the verge of tears. Anger and sadness welled inside Kat as she tried to block out the fight. Kat turned her little radio to Wizarding Wireless Network and turned the volume as high as it would go. The Weird Sisters were playing, but soon the Witching Hour would come on, and Kat hated the way the host, Glenda Chittock’s voice sounded. 

“...need to do this...requested me for this job.” Kat’s father was drunk most likely. They both were. They only forgot that she could hear them when they were drunk. Most of the time, Kat’s parents took to quiet, polite conversation with their daughter, never anything of substance but pleasant enough, she supposed. It always felt distant, though, not like how she talked to her friends, or even how her friends’ families spoke to each other. She thought, perhaps only The Malfoys, family from her mother’s side, spoke to each other in the same distant way. 

Barton and Vega Warner were, to the wizarding world, the perfect married couple. They attended events and galas, as well as made their opinions known about political issues facing the wizarding world. As Barton worked for the Ministry, the British wizarding government, and for the Wizengamot itself, which was the English Wizarding World court, he remained well-versed in all things political. Vega, being a pureblood society woman of House Warner and a member of House Black before her marriage, was well versed in all things social and, in Kat’s opinion, boring.

But, anyone who took a look through the dark windows of Warner Manor late at night would see these two well-mannered people nearly coming to drunken blows. To his credit, Barton had never actually hit his wife, and Vega had never laid more than a slap on his arm. Still, the tension was so high that even the House Elf, Neely, would stay far away, in fear of being an accidental target or an intentional one. 

Kat looked again at the letter that now sat haplessly on her bed and smiled. 

Georgie. 

He, of course, was the one who wrote the letter. No doubt Fred helped out, but it was George who was always the one to write to her out of the blue. It’s not that Fred didn’t care; it’s just that he didn’t think. George was more aware that she might need a little bit of cheering up every now and again over the summer holiday. 

“Neely,” Kat called into the air, just to have her House Elf, a shriveled looking creature with big eyes and almost elephant-like ears in the way they were shaped, popped into her room with a static snap. 

“What can Neely be doing for Ms. Katherine?” The creature asked. 

The House Elf and Kat supposed Neely’s whole family had been working for the Warner family for as long as records were kept. Neely herself had been in the Warner’s service since Kat was just a little girl, no taller than Neely was now. She wore a stained and horrible looking rag that was tied much like a tunic or perhaps a toga, Kat didn’t really know, and it didn’t really matter. 

Kat asked Neely once if she had any other clothes she wore or if she would like new ones. Neely had instantly burst into tears at this, begging Kat not to free her. After Neely calmed down, she had explained to the very young Kat that if Neely were to get new clothes, it would mean that she was dismissed and would no longer serve the Warner family, a disgrace; Neely said she would not survive. Kat had promised her first friend that she would always be with them, as Kat considered Neely to be family. That had made the House Elf uncomfortable, though Kat couldn’t blame the little creature knowing no sane person would choose to be a Warner.

“I was wondering if you could get my luggage together and shrink it to a traveling size for me, and perhaps pop in on Boston and do the same for her, tell her to meet me at the Leaky Cauldron,” Kat said.

Neely smiled up at Kat. She supposed the House Elf liked Boston quite a lot, though she was sure they had difficulty communicating. Neely always came back to the manor with tales of how nice Boston was, and Kat couldn’t help but agree, knowing that Boston was one of the kindest people she had known, when she set her mind to it, that is. Though, Boston never really put her mind to it, preferring a constant sneer that kept most people away. But not Neely, and certainly not Kat.

“Is Ms needing anything else?” Neely looked quite eager to get away, and Kat understood why. The whole house seemed to be shaking under the weight of the fight being waged downstairs. 

“Oh no, that’s it,” Kat said, smiling at Neely. 

“Yes, Ms. Right away, Ms.” With that, Neely popped out just as she popped in with a static snap.

Kat went and folded the letter, tucking it in the pocket of her muggle jeans. Her father had raged for days when she came home with them as well as many other types of muggle clothes, but Kat had convinced him not to burn them with a well-timed pout. She had yet to tell him that the muggle clothes were not the only muggle items under his roof, not by a long shot. Most of the clothes Kat wore on a daily basis were from the muggle, or the non-magical world, but Barton paid so little attention to his daughter that it seemed he only noticed the clothes on occasion. 

She thought about the word again. Home. Warner Manor was a lot of things Kat supposed, but it never really felt like home. Hogwarts felt like home a lot of the time, even Boston’s small flat in muggle London, but no place quite had the same feeling as the Burrow, which was what the Weasley family called their home.

In total, there were nine Weasleys. There was Arthur and Molly, George and Fred’s mum and dad. Then there was the oldest, Bill, then Charlie, then Percy, then Kat’s boys, then Ron, then finally Ginny coming in at three years younger than Kat herself, and the only girl. Everyone long suspected that Molly had wanted a daughter and just kept trying until she had Ginny, though no one would voice this theory. 

The Burrow was an odd-looking house, seeming to always be a bit more of it every time Kat visited. Arthur and Molly built more onto the house when they needed more space, and since their home was always packed to the rafters with children, many of them not their own; it seemed they always needed more room.

Though, the shape wasn’t what made the Burrow special. Kat always thought it was the way the house seemed to always be alive with activity, and there was never a dull moment. Even when it was too quiet, the ghoul in the attic would bang on the pipes just to keep the atmosphere alive. It was so different from the Manor, large and empty and quiet and cold. The Manor, at some times, felt more like a tomb.

Kat’s pocket-sized luggage appeared on her bed, and she smiled. Throwing on a jacket that was at least two sizes too big for her, she stuffed the tiny trunk into the pocket and grabbed her wand. Technically, Kat couldn’t call the black dragon hide jacket hers. It was once Charlie Weasley’s, but in her second year at Hogwarts, when she visited the Weasleys over the Christmas holiday, he saw that she was without one on a particularly frigid night. He had draped it over her shoulders and told her to keep it. That was the beginning of Kat’s secret love for Charlie. The jacket had practically swallowed her back then, and now four years and two growth spurts later, and it was still massive on her. Her crush on Charlie hadn’t grown with her, but she doubted it would ever entirely disappear, especially with his insanely hot job being a dragon trainer in Romania. Kat blushed just thinking about it.

“I will protect this family!” She heard her father yell, and it sounded like something else broke then. Kat didn’t hesitate as she swung one leg over the edge of her window and into the chilly night. 

Kat carefully crouched on the window sill as she prepared to jump to grab onto a low hanging branch from an oak tree that was probably older than the manor itself. She propelled herself forward and just barely managed to hold onto the branch, bark cutting into the softest part of her palms. Kat hissed at the pain in her hands and looked down to see the ground was farther away than she was expecting, but that wasn’t the worst part. Her wand was starting to slip free from the pocket of Charlie’s jacket. She tried to twist around to keep the wand in her pocket when her left hand slipped from the branch. With that loss of grip and the momentum she had already gained from twisting, Kat felt her right hand let go of the tree of its own accords, and she was falling. 

It was probably close to 7 meters, but Kat would have sworn up and down that she plummeted 100 to her curtain death. With a bone-shaking thud, she hit the damp grass below. Her breath was gone from her for a brief moment but returned before she suffocated. Kat moaned as it seemed her ability to scream had been bounced out of her body. The only saving grace Kat could find was that her wand stayed in her pocket the whole time. 

Small victories.

To say the fall hurt would have been an understatement. Kat had landed on her back, her left side taking much of the impact. Her head felt heavy and light all at the same time as she was sure it slammed into the ground as well. She pressed a hand to the back of her head, but it came away clean, so her head wasn’t bleeding. Another small victory.

Kat gritted her teeth and promised herself that she was fine and that Fred and George could take a look at the damage later as she had done many times for them. They owed her.

As beaters on the Gryffindor quidditch team, they tended to get hurt more often than not, and it didn’t help that they were as reckless, and they were stubborn, refusing to go to the hospital wing and have Poppy, the head medi witch at Hogwarts, look them over. Boston was more skilled at healing spells and potion making, but she was always somehow absent when one of the twins needed healing, forcing Kat to become proficient at healing them herself. She was nowhere close to being as good as a medi witch, but she was good enough to fix Quidditch injuries and most everything else the boys did. 

It took more effort than Kat would care to admit to get herself to her feet and past the wards of the manor. It was a nearly a kilometer walk to the nearest road, and she felt every step of it, the reverberations shooting up her spine. Sweat was beading down her back by the time she stopped. Or was that blood? She couldn’t tell. 

After about 10 minutes of sitting on the curb, trying to get air to stay in her lungs, Kat heard the Knight Bus zooming closer. Kat had to scramble to her feet to avoid having the Knight bus run over her muggle trainer covered toes. 

The Knight Bus was a tall purple double-decker bus driven by a blind man and a shrunken head and picked up the stranded witch or wizard.  
Kat ached everywhere, but she kept her face neutral as Stan Shunpike, the Knight Bus conductor, stepped out to greet her. 

“Evening, Ms. Warner,” Stan gave her a smile that set her teeth on edge, but she smiled back at him anyway. 

“Hey, Stan, how’s it going?” Kat climbed up into the cab of the long, tall, purple bus, taking a seat on one of the empty beds close to the front. 

“It’s a slow night. Where you off to then?” Stan climbed in after her, and she knew he was paying much closer attention to her arse than anything else. 

“Leaky Cauldron.” 

“Leaky Cauldron Ernie,” Stan called to the mostly blind elderly driver with a pension for driving like the world is ending. 

The shriveled, dried shrunken head of a Jamaican wizard was hanging from the rearview window, talking with Ernie. When Stan gave Ernie a destination, the head called out, “Take it away, Ern!” 

The bus lurched forward with a start, causing all the beds to fly back and bump into each other and the walls of the bus. Kat held onto one of the skinny metal poles that made up a strange semblance of a four-poster bed. It always seemed to Kat that the Knight Bus was initially intended to be an excellent place for the stranded witch or wizard to rest or get to where they were going, but then they realized they only had so many galleons and had to make it work.

“Going to the World Cup?” Stan asked as Ernie took an ugly 90-degree turn that nearly sent Kat into the window.

“Yeah, going with the Weasleys.” Kat was barely paying attention to the lanky conductor and had her eyes glued to the street ahead. 

“I’ll be there too,” Stan continued. “Who do you reckon’s gonna win?”

Kat shrugged. “I’m not too sure. I don’t really follow quidditch, just like going to the games with friends.”

It was mostly true. Kat didn’t follow quidditch at all, not like Fred and George, and certainly not like their little brother Ron who could tell you the stats of every quidditch team. 

Boston enjoyed quidditch as well, and when she thought it was a good game, she would get really into it, but much like Kat, they were just casual watchers, enjoying cheering on their team and watching the match.

Ernie narrowly missed the side of a building. “Well, we could meet up, and I could help explain it to you.” Kat clocked that way Stan licked his lips and how his eyes slid to Kat’s chest.

“Still a minor, Stan.” It wasn’t the first time she has had to remind him of that fact. 

“Not like that!” He tried to defend. 

“Either way, I’m sure you have no interest in talking to me all game. Not to mention, my father wouldn’t be pleased if I were to leave the group.” Kat had gotten used to using Barton as a way to ward off men who found themselves getting too friendly.

“I didn’t realize your dad, ur, Mr. Warner, would be there.” Stan stumbled.

It was a horrible little fact that Kat’s father was powerful and, therefore, terrifying to anyone with less than three brain cells, that included Stan. Kat thought he was just a wealthy arse because, well, she knew him. 

“Oh yeah, he wouldn’t miss it.” Kat lied.

The bus lurched to a stop, and the shrunken head called out that they had made it to the Leaky Cauldron. 

“See you around, Stan,” Kat called as she scrambled out of the bus and onto the mostly deserted street in front of the Bar/Inn. The Knight Bus sped away into the darkness the moment both of her feet were on the pavement.


	2. Laughing Through The Pain

Chapter 2: Laughing Through The Pain

Kat took a breath of the cool summer air and twisted her back, trying to feel if there was something actually wrong with it or if it was just very sore and bruised. It took every ounce of strength she had to stay sitting on the bus, and every horrible turn Erine had taken sent shockwaves of pain up her spine. Grumbling when she couldn’t figure out how bad she was injured, she stalked into the warmth and stench of the Leaky Cauldron. It was still busy, even with the late hour, but there were some tables open towards the back. 

Kat started to weave her way through the patrons when she caught a glimpse of long black hair tied high in a ponytail. Kat elbowed her way towards that black ponytail to find just the person she was looking for. 

“Boston!” Kat called, beaming as the dark-haired girl spun around. An equally brilliant smile spread on her features. 

Boston came to meet Kat in the middle, having to dodge a flying brew on the way there. Kat noticed her friend had purple looking smudges under her eyes but was still alert enough to spin out of others’ way. She was wearing her typical muggle wear but with a twist that made it Boston. Where Kat had form-fitting jeans, Boston wore baggy cargo pants, held up by what looked to be an actual chain with large, thick links that looked practically deadly. Boston’s entire middle was visible, from just under her breasts to right after her hip bones became visible. The long-sleeved grey cropped top would have made Kat feel over exposed, but it just seemed to fit Boston. Kat pulled down her red sleeves of her much less revealing top so that they covered her slightly scuffed palms. 

When the girl finally met, they embraced each other as if they hadn’t seen each other in years, though it had been less than two months. Kat let out a noise that was part squeak, part hiss, and instantly regretted it, putting a large toothy grin back on her face. Boston pulled away and held Kat at arms length, looking her up and down appraisingly. Kat took no notice. 

“I’m so happy you agreed to come!” Kat nearly squealed.

Boston quirked up a dark eyebrow at her friend. 

“Oh right, Neely wouldn’t have known,” Kat continued. “The Weasleys have invited us to The Quidditch World Cup!”

Boston looked intensely into her friend's brown eyes. Kat could see anger growing in the corner of Boston’s eyes but didn’t say anything. 

Boston eventually huffed and shook her head no. Unfortunately, Boston didn’t like being social and barely tolerated spending time with anyone other than Kat.

Kat gave Boston an exasperated look and whined, “Yes! You have to come. They’ve already gotten the tickets, and it’ll be so much fun, I promise.” 

Boston looked at her skeptically. 

“Please please please please,” Kat began to beg. It was drawing the attention of the others in the bar. 

Boston bit her lip then put her hands up in surrender. 

“Yes! Oh, I am so excited.” Kat cheered and laughed a little, causing a thread of pain to whip from her left side, though she kept the pain from her face.

Boston looked at the ground so Kat wouldn’t see the small smile threatening her face and shook her head slightly. 

Boston felt her hand meet Kat’s, and her arm was jerked in the direction of the large stone fireplace in the back corner of the bar. Kat looked back at Boston and squeezed her hand a bit tighter. 

Boston gave Kat an angry look that didn’t quite meet her bright emerald eyes. Kat had seen that look many, many times. 

“Yes, yes, I owe you one, I get it. Come on! We have to floo in.” Kat said. 

Boston allowed herself to be dragged into the large fireplace. With her free hand, Kat grabbed a handful of the gray floo powder. 

“The Burrow!” Kat called and then threw the powder down at her and Boston’s feet. 

There was almost a yanking feeling or a pushing feeling; Kat could never tell which while she was traveling in the floo system. 

Still holding hands, the girls crashed out of the large brick fireplace in the Weasley home. They had fallen on the stone floor in a heap that had Kat cackling through some pained breathing. Boston grimaced at her wrist, but it didn’t look broken, just bruised. At that, a fresh round of harsh laughs from Kat, Boston smiled. Kat felt something crack in her chest and winced but made no move to see if something was truly wrong. She didn’t want to worry Boston.

It was an unfortunate fact of Kat’s life that injuries followed her around. Boston, who was pretty brilliant at healing charms, had fixed Kat up more than once, but every time she did, she had this panicked look on her face that made Kat uneasy. She had to think that Boston might be just as afraid of losing Kat as Kat was about losing her. 

It was quite a spectacle, to be sure. Two girls, covered in soot, rolling on the cold stone floor in a combination of hysterics and pain. One, short brown hair flowing out around her head like a strange halo, laughing and sucking in painful breaths in the same heartbeat. The other with hair so dark it seemed to soak in all the light, smiling at the laughing girl and holding her wrist gently. Side by side, laying there for who knows how long, and if Molly hadn’t come in to see what all the noise was, they could have probably laid there forever. 

However, Molly did come in to see the girls on the floor. 

“Oh, dear, are you okay?” Molly was a small round sort of woman with curls in the same shade of ginger as the rest of the family. Molly was the only person in the Burrow that Kat was actually taller than, though, when she wanted to, Molly had a way of making anyone feel very small.

Kat carefully got up from the floor, dusting off her clothes, Boston not far behind. 

“Yeah, Molly, don’t worry, we just came in a bit quick, no harm done.” Worrying the matriarch of the Weasley family would only make things much worse.

Molly gave her a look that Kat could only describe as motherly. 

“Oh, you girls look like you’ve crawled through every floo in London.” She went to wipe a smudge on Kat’s cheek, but it just spread the soot around. 

“We’ll wash up, no worries. Sorry to be getting in so late.” Kat talked wildly with her hands.

“Oh, don’t you worry about that now. Go, go. Both of you. Bathroom is upstairs. Don’t doddle.” Molly shooed the girl towards the stairs. 

Kat wasn’t looking and almost knocked right into the youngest Weasley. Ginny wasn’t only the youngest, but also the only girl. Kat had always thought of Ginny as a sort of surrogate little sister but was hesitant to say so, just in case the girl didn’t feel the same. 

“There you are!” Ginny couldn’t hide her excitement at seeing Kat. “Fred and George said they invited you but didn’t say if you were coming or not. Hermione and Harry will be arriving tomorrow before the match.” 

The way the young redhead said Harry’s name had Boston raising her eyebrows. 

Kat turned to look at her silent friend, seeing the expression on her face. “Oh, don’t worry, Boston, we’ll have girl talk tomorrow, and I’ll explain everything, I promise.” 

Boston just gave a small nod, and they both followed Ginny up the stairs. 

Ginny had just opened her door when two heads popped out of a doorframe down the hall. 

“I thought I heard a Kitty Kat,” Fred mused. Kat just gave him an incredulous look. 

“We didn’t think you’d come by tonight,” George commented, walking into the hall. 

He was already in his nightclothes. Blue and white striped bottoms that looked a little too short on him and a black vest. Kat noted that George had filled out since the last time she saw him, finally getting a beater’s body. He was looking at her with a strange mix of joy and concern. 

“Bart and Vega were at it again,” Kat explained. 

George just nodded as if he had heard it all before, and of course he had. 

Kat didn’t like calling her parents mum and dad when she was with the people she loved. It just felt off. She had always been selective with who she considered family, and her parents hadn’t made the cut.

Boston gave Kat’s hand a quick squeeze, and she looked back at her friend. In the dim light it was hard to see the soot on her nose that Kat knew was there.

“I’ll wash up after you, yeah? I’ll talk to the idiots,” she motioned towards Fred and George, “and come to bed later. You get some rest, okay?” 

Boston shot a glare over Kat’s head at the two boys, then looked back at her friend, still holding her hand. 

Kat gave a quick nod, and Boston followed suit. 

Boston maneuvered past Kat to get to the bathroom at the end of the hall. She might have also bumped into George on her way there. 

Kat rolled her eyes and walked over to George, who just smiled down at her. Then without warning, he picked her up into a very tight hug. Kat squeaked a little, and George put her down. 

“My turn.” That was the only warning before Fred picked Kat up from behind, causing her to squeak again. Everything hurt. Her back, her side, her ankle, which she must have twisted at some point. 

“You guys are the worst,” Kat chided half-heartedly. She nodded her head towards their room. “Come on.” They followed her into their room. 

It was a small square of a room with room enough for two twin beds against the two side walls and one desk in between them against the back wall. Both beds were draped in handmade quilts, which Kat loved and secretly wanted Molly to make her one. George slept on the left and Fred on the right. It smelled suspiciously like gunpowder and melted sweets. Kat wondered what they had been up to during the summer to have the smell of cinnamon dowsed from their room.

Once Fred closed the door behind them all, Kat turned around and shucked off Charlie's jacket, letting it tumble to the floor. Then she pulled her red long-sleeved shirt over her head, allowing the boys to get a good view of her back. 

“How bad is it?” Kat sounded worried that it was bad; she felt like it was really, really bad. George went around to the desk to grab the candle holder and bring the light closer. When he did, Kat tucked her arms in close to her chest to preserve whatever modesty she was still trying to hold on to. 

Kat could feel the heat from the candle move around her back as the boys looked at it, poking at it every now and again, making Kat hiss softly. The boys were careful where and how long they touched her, George doing most of the prodding. 

“How are you still upright?” Fred asked, finally. The heat was still moving around her back, and she guessed they were still looking at it. 

“How could you stand us hugging you?” George’s voice was right next to her ear, moving the hair there to tickle her neck. 

“It’s that bad, huh?” Kat was almost afraid to hear their answer. Hopefully, they would just tell her the truth and then not say anything else to anyone. 

There was a long pause before Fred’s voice came from somewhere near the door. “It’s swollen, and there is more purple than red, and your side is black.”

Kat twisted to see her left side, the one that hurt the most. She hissed in a quick breath when she realized she couldn’t turn that way. 

“Bugger.” 

“What happened?” George sounded gentle and overly concerned. 

Kat shrugged, sending a new wave of pain up her back. She must have been in shock or had her adrenaline going through the roof earlier because this was so much worse than before. Every movement felt like she was hitting the ground all over again. 

“I fell out of a tree.” George sighed. Kat thought perhaps he was sitting on the floor now. 

“Take off your jeans,” Fred said.

The order alarmed Kat. She almost spun around to confront Fred, but George placed a hand on her calf. 

“What?” 

“Not like that, Kitty Kat. Trust me, we have no interest in seeing you in your knickers like this, but we have to see it all.” Fred sounded so sure, so determined. Kat honestly wondered if she actually needed a Medi Witch. 

“So, you want to see me in my knickers under normal circumstances?” She was trying to lighten the mood. It had all become too serious for her. It was Fred and George. Serious wasn’t a good look on them, Kat thought. 

“Come on, Kat, or we’ll call Mum up here to take you to St. Mungos.” George was still seated behind her, hand still on her leg. 

Kat let out an irritated huff. “Fine, but turn around so I can at least sit down. This isn’t going to be graceful or pretty, and I would prefer you still think I’m the image of grace and poise.”

“When did we think that?” And there it was. Fred finally made a joke. Everything felt right again. 

When she was sure both boys had turned around, Kat stumbled slightly to the bed on her right, mostly because she began falling that way. She sat with an oof and had to sit still for a long moment while her vision became clear again. Did she almost pass out? She raised her arm to the back of her head and felt a large lump forming, and something cold and slick stuck to her fingers. It was either sweat or blood. Kat didn’t let that thought linger too long in her head.

She looked at the boys then, their backs turned to her and their heads lowered. They seemed almost sad. 

For the first time, Kat realized that Fred was wearing nearly identical nightclothes, though his bottoms were red and black striped instead. 

She shook her head and tried to bend over to untie her trainers. She involuntarily let out a small pained sound. Thankfully neither George nor Fred turned at this. She couldn’t bend over then. 

She tried to lift her foot so that it rested on her knee, but she could only lift it to the middle of her shin. 

“This is stupid. I’m fine. It probably looks worse than it is,” Kat tried, not wanting to admit that a Medi Witch was sounding better and better every second. 

“Don’t,” George warned. 

He knew her too well. She glared at the back of his head. The boys had let their hair get nearly to their shoulders. It was as long as hers now. 

“Look Kitty Kat,” Fred started, and when he did, he turned around. 

Kat registered shock on his face, but it faded quickly. She wondered what sort of mess she must have looked like to them. Fred hit George’s arm, and he turned as well, looking her up and down. If she weren’t in so much pain, she would probably have felt embarrassed. 

Kat looked down at her still tied trainers and sighed. “I can’t do it,” she said to the floor.

“Can’t do what?” George took a step, but only one, closer to her. 

“I can’t get anything else off.” She didn’t want to look at them. “It hurts too much.” 

“Alright, I’m getting Mum,” George declared and started for the door. 

His hand was on the knob when Kat nearly shouted, “No!” 

He turned and looked at her, and she stared straight back. 

“She’ll call a Medi Witch, and she’ll insist on paying because she’s too nice and stubborn. Then they will call Vega or Bart because I’m underage, and they have to.” Kat took a breath, trying to brace herself on the bed. “You can’t do this, Georgie, please.” 

He looked angry for a split second, and Kat had to wonder if she had ever seen him angry before. 

“Fine.” His voice sounded clipped, but at least he agreed. “We’ll try and help as much as we can.”

“We’re not the best at healing magic,” Fred began.

“But it’s better than nothing,” George finished. 

Kat let out a breath, then nodded. “Yeah, that’s probably a really brilliant idea.” 

She carefully lowered herself completely on Fred’s bed, her back on full display. George had lifted her legs, so they rested on the bed as well, and a tear slipped from Kat’s eye, but she wiped it away on Fred’s pillow before they could see it. 

After an hour or two, the Twins had called it quits. 

“We don’t know what else to do,” George resigned. Kat looked back at him, instinct telling her to comfort him."

It feels so much better,” Kat called from her place on the bed. 

She hadn’t moved, not even an inch. Not when they poked her some more, this time with their wands. Not when Fred had snapped a rib back into place. Not when her whole back felt like they had cast fiend fire on it.

It did feel better. Loads better. It was still otherworldly tender, but she could move again, and that’s really what mattered. Sweat coated her forehead, causing her hair to stick to it in strangely funny ways.

“Yeah, well, swellings gone down, and the black splotch has gone purple again, so that’s good.” Fred rubbed the back of his neck. “Why didn’t you ask Boston. She’s loads better at healing magic than we are.” 

Kat bit her lip. “She worries too much.”

“I think in this case she’s got a right to,” Fred retorted. 

“Yeah, but you guys are smart enough not to worry.” She smiled at them. “Now hand me my shirt. I still have to shower.” She pointed towards the red shirt that was inside out on the floor. 

“Yeah, alright,” George wasn’t looking at her as he gathered up her shirt and the jacket she was wearing. He tossed them on the bed beside her.

“Hey, come on, Georgie. I’m fine, aren’t I?” Kat soothed. 

“Are you?”

“Course. You did brilliant, both of you.” Kat smiled.

“We are pretty brilliant,” Fred interjected. 

“We just worry,” George added. 

“Yeah. I know.” Kat moved to get up, and the boys turned around again, obviously ignoring the fact that they had already seen her in her bra. “I won’t try and swing around on trees anymore.”

“Yeah, Tarzan you aren’t,” Fred laughed.

“Jane maybe,” George joined. Kat could hear the smile behind his words.

“Jane? Really? We all know I leave the bookishness to Hermione and the lot,” Kat quipped back.

“But, Hermione can’t draw,” Fred chimed at the same time George did.

“Neither can I,” Kat pointed out. 

“Or sing,” George and Fred added at the same time again. 

Kat had half a mind to throw something at them, but the only thing in reach was her wand.

“You guys aren’t going to get into trouble for underaged magic, are you?” She hadn’t even thought about that until now.

“Never,” they answered in unison. 

“Ministry only tracks where magic is being used,” said Fred as he turned back around to see Kat tugging down her shirt. 

“Not who exactly is casting the spell,” George added, turning with his brother. 

“So, you use magic all the time?” That sounded way too reckless, even for them.

Fred put a hand over his heart in mock pain. “You wound us.”

George laughed. “Too much magic, and they’ll get wise to what we’re doing.” 

“Ah, and we can’t have that.” Kat slowly got to her feet, holding the jacket to her chest. She swayed a little; it wasn’t bad at all, at least not to her. George reached out instantly to keep her upright between his hands. “I’m good, Georgie, honest. Let me go wash off all this grime, yeah?” 

“Maybe a bath,” George started. 

“I will hex you if you keep mothering me,” she threatened.

The twins laughed. Kat thought perhaps they did this more often than people gave them credit for, helping and comforting.

“Fine, but if we hear something hit the floor,” Fred began.

“We are coming in,” George finished. 

Kat just shook her head. “Anything to see me naked.”

She caught the red spreading on their noses and smiled. It took a lot to make them embarrassed, so she took it as a personal victory. She went to the door and swung it open to the cool hallway. It had apparently gotten hot in the boys’ room, and she didn’t even notice. 

“Don’t wake me unless there is food already on the table,” she called before she closed the door, and then she was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you caught the avpm reference, comment the song


	3. Swords At Dawn

Chapter 3: Swords At Dawn

The morning was far too bright, and unlike Fred and George’s room, Ginny’s had a window. The worst part was it was east facing. Kat felt like fighting the sun but thought better of it, as she was too pale, and lobster red was not her best color. 

Kat rolled over onto her left side and groaned slightly. Sure, her rib wasn’t broken and floating in the wrong place anymore, but it still hurt like that time Peeves had “accidentally” pushed her through the trick stair. 

It still baffled Kat that the school had stairs students could just fall through, not to mention a poltergeist that had a pension for trouble.

There was a hand on her shoulder, shaking her. She grumbled some more and opened her eyes a crack to see who was bold enough to wake her. There was a tornado of black hair around a familiar face.

“I swear to Godric, if there is not coffee in my hand in the next 30 seconds,” Kat started.

Boston smiled and nodded towards the desk in the corner of the room. There sat two mugs that smelled suspiciously bittersweet. 

“Can I marry you?” Kat joked.

Boston did her best mime of a laugh and shook her head, walking over to grab the mugs and bring them back so Kat didn’t even have to get up. When she sat on the edge of Kat’s bed and Kat shifted to more of a seated position, Boston sighed into her coffee. 

Kat knew all of Boston’s sighs. There was the “Are you bloody crazy?!” sigh, the “He’s cute,” sigh, the “I think I might die of boredom,” sigh, the “I’m over the moon happy” sigh, and then this one. The “care to explain what you’ve been up to” sigh. 

Kat pointedly ignored it. 

“Come on. We could run off and get married. Not a sexy thing or anything, just two witches killing it together and having like a cat or something.” Kat wiggled her eyebrows.

Boston just stared at her. Stoney eyes and an unimpressed expression. Bugger. 

“I was just talking with the boys for a while and then took a super long shower.” She took a sip of her coffee. “I don’t know why you even have to ask.” Kat smiled to herself and waited for Boston to be halfway through a sip of her coffee. “And of course, I had to give the twins a glad to see you shag.”

Kat would have sworn in front of the whole Wizengamot that Boston’s eyes bulged out of her head a little. She started coughing violently and held up her coffee cup, forcing it into Kat’s hand as she fell off the bed to the floor. There was even coffee coming out of her nose. Kat couldn’t help it. It was one of the funniest things she had seen in a long time. She had to laugh. The small bedroom was echoing with the sound of Boston trying not to drown in coffee and Kat cackling. 

Kat laughed so hard that coffee started sloshing around in the mugs she was holding. One chuckle too many sent the hot liquid all down the front of her shirt. She abruptly stopped laughing. Hot and sticky and cold all at once. 

Boston looked up from the floor, finally breathing in air again. When she saw what Kat had done, she fell to the floor again, this time in a silent laugh-fest that had her rolling on the floor. 

“It’s not funny!” Kat tried, but even she was smiling. 

Boston’s eyes were shut because her smile was taking up too much room on her face. She just nodded and went back to her strange laughing. 

“Oh, shut it!” Kat put the mugs on the floor next to her bed to prevent any more spilling and threw her pillow at her friend. 

Boston was still smiling when she propped herself up onto her elbows and nodded her head towards the door. Kat gave her an investigatory look, rubbing her chin for emphasis. 

“Food?”

Boston nodded.

“More coffee?”

Another nod.

“Then why are we still here?” Both the girls were smiling so wide there was no way their faces didn’t hurt. 

Kat flung the quilt off her legs and swung them down. They felt stiff, but she was back to normal mobility. Boston gave her a smirk, and Kat remembered that, though yes, she was wearing her shirt from last night, wet as it was, she had taken off her jeans before she went to bed and was just wearing pants. 

“Right. You got anything?” She asked.

Boston shook her head. 

“My jeans are way too hard to get on,” Kat complained.

Boston just shrugged at her messy counterpart. 

Kat knew without a doubt that there would be no putting jeans on today, not with how tender she still was, though she was healing rather quickly thanks to the boys. 

Kat had a whole section of her hair sticking off her head at odd angles; purple stains were starting in the corner of her eyes, and she had a clear drool line crusted on her cheek. Put a wet, sticky top and no bottoms with that, and Boston’s bird’s nest of hair seemed almost elegant. 

Boston was in the same clothes she was in last night as neither of the girls had unshrunk their trunks yet and therefore couldn’t get to their other clothes.

Kat stood on shaking legs, still very sore. She cast a quick look to the back of them. She had looked last night in the shower, and most of the bruises, thankfully, were on her butt and upper legs. A few purple splotches were cascading down her legs and one painful looking one on her left ankle, where she thought she might have sprained it. 

Her legs looked pretty much the same as they always had, a small, constant smattering of bruises, but otherwise fine. Kat grabbed Charlie’s jacket from its place at the end of her borrowed bed and slung it around her. It hit just a few inches below the worst of the bruises, and if she zipped it all the way up, it could have been a dress. A huge and awkwardly shaped dress that was 100% a jacket. 

“Alright, take me to the food.” 

Kat motioned towards the door to Boston, who just looked at her friend for another second and shook her head. She walked towards the door and opened it, dramatically motioning for Kat to walk through. She was close to bowing. 

“Ah, yes, thank you, Jeeves.” 

As Kat walked past, Boston slapped her in the back of the head. 

“Ow!” Kat yelled.

She looked at Boston, who was suppressing a smile, and shrugged. 

“Yeah, I deserved that.” Kat conceded. 

Boston nodded, and both girls made their way downstairs to the kitchen. 

Most of everyone was already down there, as Kat had noticed they all seemed to rise with the sun, like some sort of reverse vampires. Eyes flung to the girls, and they clomped down the stairs. 

“Oh, my dear,” Molly started. Kat held up a hand covered in the sleeve of the jacket. 

“Don’t worry, Molly. I am wearing pants under this.” Kat assured her with her most serious face. 

“Well, I don’t think that is entirely propper for,” 

Kat cut her off again, with her best Percy attitude she could muster. “As it is, my trunk is still tiny; we are all lucky I am wearing anything at all.” 

Fred and George were suppressing laughs from the end of the table. There were two chairs beside them that Kat and Boston walked to. 

“And honestly, Molly,” she started back up as she sat down, “I wouldn’t let a little thing like nudity keep me from your cooking.” 

Red spread across Molly’s nose, and Kat couldn’t tell if it was anger or embarrassment or some combination of both. 

Boston was grinning like a cat who had just found a new toy to play with. 

It was Charlie that cut the silence. “Isn’t that my jacket?” This sent the family into a whole new tizzy. Everyone was talking at once. 

“Why is she wearing just your jacket?”

“Did she sleep in Charlie’s room?”

“No, we’re with Percy.” 

“Is she actually wearing pants?” 

Kat chimed in with the chaos she caused. “Oh, Charlie!” She declared dramatically, throwing her arms against the table, causing the plates to clatter. She dropped her head, then lifted it quickly, flicking some of her hair, but not all, out of her face. “I think it’s time to tell them.” 

Charlie being the good sport he always was, continued, “I don’t know darling, I think it’s a bit premature.” 

“No! I can’t hide it anymore!” Kat looked around the table. “Family! Fred, George, sweet Boston. It’s time you knew.” She took a long pause making sure everyone was focused on her. “Charlie and I are,” Charlie cut her off.

“No. I should be the one to tell them,” Charlie cut in. Kat looked surprised. Sure, Charlie would occasionally go along with her antics, but he never really added in himself. “Mum. I’ve asked Katherine to marry me. She and I are going to raise dragons here at the Burrow.” 

Kat had to laugh a little, Molly looked scandalized, but everyone else had the biggest grin on their face. 

“How dare you!” Fred cried. “You knew I wanted to raise dragons with Kat!” 

“You wound me, brother,” George joined in. “I too wanted to raise dragons here with Kat.” 

“Well, there is only one way to settle this,” Ginny piped up from the other end of the table. “You’ll all have to compete for her heart.” 

Boston nodded viciously.

Kat agreed. “Yes! Swords at dawn!”

“Oh, that sounds like too much work,” Fred relented. 

“Yeah, dawn is very early,” George agreed.

Charlie shrugged. “Sorry, Katherine darling, I’m going to have to side with Fred and George here.”

Everyone set out into a round of laughter as Kat looked as scandalized as Molly did. Hand on her heart, she scoffed. “Well! That will teach me to fall for a Weasley boy.” 

Boston nudged her and wiggled her eyebrows. She pointed to herself and Kat then to her ring finger.

“Wait, really?” Kat asked. 

Boston nodded with that same feline smile. 

“Family! Great news! Boston has agreed to run away with me and get married!” There was more laughter and jeering. 

The rest of breakfast was quieter, which isn’t saying much since by the end of that scene Kat made, nearly everyone was shouting.


	4. Catch Me if I Fall

Chapter 4: Catch Me If I Fall

After breakfast, Molly had demanded that the girls get their trunks so that she could unshrink them, and Kat didn’t have to stay in “improper clothing.” 

Kat and Boston had quickly changed, wanting to get into fresh clothes no matter what breakfast might have seemed. 

Boston had ended up in gray sweatpants with some black tights with diamond-shaped holes in them, held together with black strings. They were under the sweatpants and looked a bit off, but it wasn’t Kat’s place to judge muggle fashion. She was wearing tall trainers that puffed out around the ankle. They were in an alarming shade of purple that made Kat do a double-take. It had been a while since Kat had seen Boston in a color that was brighter than gray. Her shirt was a baggy sort of thing in her typical black. She had tied it into a knot under her left breast so the material bunched up, and her middle was exposed again. She hadn’t pulled her hair into a ponytail this time, though. It was down around her shoulders, nearly hitting the middle of her back. 

Kat dressed a bit differently. She wanted to make sure her bruises were all covered so no one saw them. When Boston had taken her shopping in muggle London, Kat had discovered these fantastic bottoms called leggings. They were soft and stretchy and about as comfy as sweatpants. She threw on a pair of emerald green ones and a beige, thin, long-sleeved shirt that was three shades darker than her complexion. She only had the one pair of trainers, so she just shoved those on again. When it came to her hair, there wasn’t much she could do with it, as short as it was. However, it seemed determined to keep one side a bit too wavy. 

Hermione arrived not long after that, and the Burrow was almost equally matched boys to girls. Bill had suggested a quidditch game, but Percy and Kat had declined. Percy cited work-related reasons, and Kat said it was too much of a safety hazard for her and everyone around her. Fred and George had to agree with her there. Hermione also wasn’t going to play, seeing as she had a horrible fear of flying to begin with. That left only enough players for one full team, and no one wanted to play an uneven game. 

Instead, they had taken to what could only amount to flying dodgeball, hitting beaters at each other and tossing the quaffle at each other’s heads.

Kat watched from the garden. She had decided to lay down and soak in as much of the sun as she could while she still could. Propping herself on one elbow and using her other hand to block the sun from her eyes, she watched the Weasleys and Boston play their strange little game. 

Boston, Kat had to admit, was an excellent flyer. She was probably the best flyer in the sky then, but Kat wasn’t about to point that out. Boston had a thing about team sports that Kat never really understood. She refused to play any team sport competitively and enjoyed fun games of quidditch or muggled football every now and again, but she never joined a real team, and when an entertaining match became a little too serious, she would just up and leave.

That wasn’t to say that she wasn’t competitive. Boston was what many people would call a bad sport. She loved to win, and everyone knew it, but when she lost, it was like someone had turned the world cold. It was best to leave her alone after she lost a game of Wizard’s Chess or one of those muggle games she would bring along with her every now and again. 

Boston had grown up differently than most of her classmates. She grew up in the muggle world, much like Hermione and Harry, but she was raised with the knowledge she was a witch. She had actually been raised by a close friend of her family, though she never talked about her family for obvious reasons.

By the time Kat had started coming around to visit Boston, it was clear that the topic of her upbringing was not something anyone was going to talk about and certainly wasn’t to be mentioned to anyone outside the walls of the small apartment. 

Boston and her guardian had been packing up their belongings, getting ready to move into a new place, which Boston was assured was much safer, if not horribly dark. 

Back in the Weasly’s garden, Fred hit one of the bludgers a bit on the top, and it spun past its mark, Bill, and was flying straight towards Kat. She shrieked and barely had time to get out of the way before it made a hole in the earth where she had just been. 

“Fredward! That could have killed me!” Kat yelled up at him, no anger in her voice. 

“Fredward?” Bill asked, raising an eyebrow. 

“That’s what she calls me when she is upset with me,” Fred explained.

“It’s an everyday occurrence,” George called from a little further away. 

“Does she know your name is Fredrick?” Bill pushed.

Kat huffed and got to her feet. “She can hear you, William! And yes, of course, I know our dear Freddie’s name is Fredrick, but have you tried to say that when you’re angry? It comes out all wrong. Now Fredward, that just sort of rolls off the tongue, and it leaves you more time to yell at the bloody wanker.”

Boston was hanging upside down from her broom behind everyone, silently laughing at Kat’s clearly fake outrage. Boston could always tell when it wasn’t real anger. She never called Fred Fredward when she was truly angry. Boston knew when Kat was truly angry, she didn’t call you anything at all. 

Kat looked over at Boston, her long hair hanging like some sort of strange banner. “Oh, shut it, Boston! I’m just glad you know how to hit a bloody bludger.”

Everyone turned their brooms to see the silent girl in near tears from laughing, her face so red it was starting to turn purple. Boston wiped the corner of her eye with the palm of her hand and pointed her broom towards the ground. There was a small moment when Kat was sure no one was breathing, but Boston knew precisely when to pull up and wound up right side up and her hair a little wild. 

“I take offense to that,” Fred finally said.

“You should,” Kat called, “it was an insult.” There was no hiding the smile that had slowly been growing on the brunette’s face. It was so wide that she scrunched her nose once to relieve some tension. 

“Come on and fly with us,” Charlie called. 

“Would you like to see this lovely garden catch flame?” She called back, shading her eyes to look at him properly. 

“Has that been known to happen?” He sounded concerned, but even from her spot on the ground, she could see him smiling. 

Kat didn’t even get a chance to answer as Ron, Ginny, George, and Fred all chorused, “Yes.” Boston was nodding along with them. 

“A story for another time,” Kat promised him. 

It wasn’t long until Arthur called them all in as it was time to pick up Harry.

“Ron, of course, will be coming,” Arthur said, looking around. 

“We’ve got something to give to Harry,” Fred interjected.

“It’s just in our room,” George said. 

Arthur made a noise that sounded like it was meant to be annoyed but came out amused. “Hurry up then.”

They ran up the stairs faster than Kat could remember them ever moving. They were moving so quickly, and with such force, they were sure to be shaking the house or at least the staircase. 

Ginny came up to Kat then, squeezing her hands. “With Harry coming, we can play four on four.” 

“Yeah, I’ll stick to my role as cheerleader.”

Ginny scrunched her eyebrows. “Cheerleader?” 

Kat nodded. “Yeah, it’s a muggle thing. I saw them when Boston and I went to a few muggle games and watched some on the telly.” 

“What is it?”

Kat squeezed the girl’s hand back. “From what I can gather is that they mostly comprise women in their underwear performing tricks and flips in order to distract the opposing team so that they will lose.” 

Ginny laughed, and Kat could see Boston smiling and shaking her head. 

“So which team will you be distracting?” Ginny asked after she was done. 

Kat thought about that for a long moment then said, “I think I’ll distract whatever team Boston is on. They already have the unfair advantage of having her on their team anyway.” 

“So what you’re saying is,” Charlie chimed in, “I want to be on the other team.”

Kat looked at Boston, who had crossed her arms, leaned back at an angle and raised an eyebrow at the Dragon Tamer. There was a cocky smile threatening the corner of her mouth. 

Kat nodded toward Boston, and Charlie followed her eyes. “I think it means you really want to be on Boston’s team,” Kat chuckled. 

It wasn’t that long that the boys had stayed at the Dursley’s. They had used the floo, Arthur, Ron, and the Twins. Fred had stuffed his pockets full of something before he went off, but Kat didn’t see what it was. 

Harry, Ron, and the boys burst out of the fireplace in a huff. Harry and Ron were doubled over laughing. Fred and George had huge smiles on their faces which made Kat smile but also made her nervous. She knew that smile. It meant trouble. 

“What happened?” Charlie asked.

They were all laughing too hard to answer. 

Arthur came through the fireplace then, red in the face. “I don’t even know what to say!” He wasn’t quite yelling, but it was the Arthur Weasley version of yelling. All stern tones and rushed sentences. 

“We didn’t force him to eat it!” Fred protested.

“Yeah, it’s not our fault-”

“I dropped it-”

“How were we supposed to know he’d eat it?” George looked extremely innocent at that moment. 

“You knew exactly what you were doing.” Arthur huffed and ran a hand through his thinning hair. “I am very disappointed in you boys.”

“How long did his tongue get?” Kat shook her head at Fred’s question. What the hell did they do?

“It was four feet before his parents allowed me to fix it.” The boys started laughing all over again. “This isn’t funny, boys. Wait until your mother hears about this.”

“Hear about what?” Molly asked from behind them all. Everyone turned to look at the short, plump woman. All the laughter stopped. 

Arthur cleared his throat. “Don’t worry, dear. I straightened the boys out, and they will not be doing anything like that again.” 

The twins nodded along with their father. Kat couldn’t hide her grin, neither could Boston. Making Arthur mad was one thing, but Molly was like pressing the button on a rocket that was headed right at you. 

“I swear if this is about that ridiculous Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes again,” Molly started. 

“I gave them a firm talking to,” Arthur tried again.

“Everyone, out.” She didn’t have to shout. She never had to shout, but as everyone was clambering to leave as quickly as possible, Molly could be heard yelling at Fred and George about putting another toe out of line and horrible jokes and taking their wands away. They had to get all the way out into the garden before they couldn’t hear Molly laying into the boys anymore. 

“We should probably help Mum out a bit,” Bill suggested. 

Boston nodded. 

Kat looked at her friend and saw that she wasn’t looking at anyone in particular, but her gaze seemed to be sliding around the general area of Bill Weasley.

Kat elbowed her friend and smiled and raised her eyebrow.

Boston’s mouth opened as if she were about to say something to object, but it closed, and her eyes promised vengeance. 

Kat just laughed. 

Something furry ran between Kat and Boston’s legs and over into the hedges. Hermione was chasing after the blob of orange, yelling for it to come back. Crookshanks was chasing some of the garden gnomes around. The gnomes looked as if they were enjoying themselves, every once and a while turning around to bite at the cat. That poor cat was just so angry it was almost funny. 

Hermione had adopted Crookshanks last year sometime, and the whole of the Weasleys seemed to keep the cat at a distance. Ron had claimed that it was because the cat was ugly with its flat face and puffy orange coat. 

Boston had taken a liking to the creature and was often seen with Crookshanks in her lap when Hermione was not in the common room.

The cat seemed to be far more aware of itself and the world it lived in than most animals, but it was aloof enough that it didn’t matter much to Kat.

There was a large crashing sound followed by some cheering from Ron and Harry. Boston was the one who looked first, Kat still caught up in the Crookshanks garden gnome showdown. 

Boston tugged on Kat’s sleeve and pointed in the direction she was looking. 

Kat saw two large tables hovering in the air, crashing into each other. Charlie and Bill had their wands out, and Harry and Ron were whooping. Kat didn’t quite know what the objective of the game was, but it seemed like it was fun nonetheless. She pulled Boston closer. 

“Give us a ride?” Kat asked. Charlie had a somewhat shocked looked on his face.

“What?” He stammered. 

Kat pointed to the tables in the air. “Come on! Let us have a ride then.” 

Kat liked the cute little red that was at the tips of his ears. Well, the tip of one. His right ear had a rather flat top, and a scar snaked from there and curled around his jaw. 

“Yeah, alright.” He started to lower the table. “Hey Bill,” he called to his brother, “care to make this more interesting?” 

Bill tilted his head slightly and started to lower his table as well. 

The moment Charlie’s table hit the ground, Kat scrambled to sit on top of it. Boston did the same with Bill’s. 

“This is a bad idea,” Bill stated with a smile spreading on his face. He shook his head, causing his tooth earring and ponytail to shake as well. 

The tables moved upwards, and Kat had to fight to shift her weight so she didn’t go sliding off the end. “Keep her steady, Charlie,” She called down to the ground. 

“Aye aye, Captain.” Kat caught the sight of him saluting her. 

Kat looked across to the other table. 

Boston had a wicked smile on her face and looked much more stable than Kat felt. 

“Oh no,” Kat whispered. This was probably a horrible idea.

Though the boys were technically in control of the tables, it seemed like Kat and Boston could still sort of direct them. So when Boston rose to her feet and started leaning towards the front of the table, in the direction of Kat, she knew she was in trouble. Bill seemed to get Boston’s message and moved the table quickly towards Kat’s. 

“Hold on!” Charlie called from the ground, and Kat only had a second to grab the sides of the table before it tumbled to the right. Kat let out a scream as her whole body lurched with the table. Her left hand was starting to slip when the table righted itself again. 

Once Kat got her bearings again, she smiled at a very determined-looking Boston. “Is that all you got?” It was a tame taught considering what they usually “said” to each other.

Kat had never asked Boston why she didn’t talk, and it didn’t seem polite or relevant. She knew that Boston could talk but for one reason or another outright refused to. She didn’t even speak when casting spells. 

Hogwarts had of course had a few students in the past who learned magic in different ways. Though deaf, mute, or blind students weren't prevalent, and the administration didn’t have anything set up expressly for students like that. 

In their first year, for the first term, Boston struggled a lot with her magic and studies. She understood the magic theory, of course, but when asked to perform spells without speaking, it was nearly impossible for her to do even simple magic. 

In their second term, Boston stopped taking classes with Kat and took private lessons with the professors in order to learn wordless magic. It had been hard on them both, not being together. They had grown so close over the first term. Boston was stressed for a very long time with her magic and her classes.

Boston had explained in her own way that the professors were telling her to say the spells in her head while doing the wand movements. Kat felt terrible that her friend wasn’t enjoying magic as much as Kat knew she could. Boston had only been able to do accidental magic, so the dorm was always an exciting place.

There was a time when all five girls sharing the dorm had woken up on the ceiling, unable to get down because Boston had a nightmare. Professor Minerva Mcgonagall, Minnie, had to get them down when they didn’t show up for their first classes. 

“Well, when I do a spell and say the words, I don’t really say them in my head too. I think about what the spell is meant to do,” Kat told Boston one night when they were practicing levitating things. Boston chewed on the end of her wand for a long moment after that. 

She held up a hand to Kat then, indicating she wanted Kat to stop and focus on her. Kat, of course, obliged her friend. Boston then pointed her wand at Kat.

Kat would look back on that moment as the moment they went from friends to sisters. She had never trusted someone so much before, and she doubted she would give her trust so freely like that again. 

Back on the tables floating 5 meters off the ground, Boston was still on her feet. Her strange puffy trainers stable on the top of her table. 

“First to fall buys the other sweets on the train, yeah?” Kat called.

Boston nodded, looking somehow even more determined and focused than before. 

Kat knew that Boston had the advantage in the air, but Kat could hold onto the edges of the table on her stomach, and Boston’s pride would keep her on her feet. 

“I’m not sure this is a good idea,” Hermione called from the ground, but no one paid her any attention. 

“Charlie!” Kat called. “You better keep me on this table.”

“I’ll do my best.”

“I make no promises to you, Katherine,” Bill laughed alongside his brother. 

Boston smirked along with his words, an indication that she seconded him. 

Then the tables were moving again. Boston was continually shifting her weight from one foot to the other in order to keep her table steady. Kat didn’t have that issue. She just had to hold tight. With the width of the table being only slightly smaller than her wingspan, she had very little wiggle room to hold on. 

“Boston!” Bill called. “Crouch down now.” 

Boston did, and Kat could see why, but it was all happening too fast. 

Bill dropped the table a few feet lower and then put it right under Kat. Then, faster than Charlie could move Kat out of the way, Bill sent Boston’s table flying up so it hit the bottom of Kat’s, trapping Boston between them. 

Boston, crouched, reached up to put her hands on the bottom of Kat’s table, and tested pressing on one side than the other. Both tables swayed as she did. Boston looked to Bill, who looked a bit worried. 

She nodded once at him and pointed to the left. 

He looked wary but pushed his magic so the tables would tilt to the left. Boston didn’t hesitate as the tables turned to the side and then upside down. She moved quickly, staying on top of the table the whole time, ending up on the bottom, smiling victoriously. 

Charlie had tried to move the table but could only do so after it was all the way on its left side, Kat hanging on by just two fingers. 

“Let go with your left hand,” Charlie called.

“That’s likely!” She shouted back. 

Then, Bill slammed Boston’s table into Kat’s again, and it finished its rotation, Kat dangling from it by her fingertips. 

Boston pointed down, and Bill lowered her so she was eye to eye with Kat. 

Kat looked at her friend, sweat beading along her brow. “Dirty move Boston.” 

Boston just smiled and looked down at her feet. There was room for two, she seemed to be saying. 

“I do not accept defeat!” Kat swung and tried to get momentum to swing to one side. Unfortunately, she was unwilling to let go of one side, so it was just swaying the table. 

“Kat!” Charlie called.

Boston’s eyes went wide. She jumped off her table at the same time Kat’s fingers finally gave out, and she dropped. 

It seemed like everyone was screaming then; Kat most certainly was. Boston had turned so she was under Kat as they fell, clutching to each other, expecting the fall. 

There was a jolt, but it didn't hurt. Boston and Kat opened their eyes, which they didn't remember closing in the first place, to see themselves hovering a few inches above the ground. Arthur was standing nearby with his wand out. Then, he dropped them with an oof. 

"Can you please keep it down!" Percy yelled from his window three stories up. "I am trying to finish my report on the importance of regulating cauldron thickness. Mr. Crouch is expecting it on his desk by this Tuesday!" 

Arthur, who had looked concerned and perhaps a little angry, let out a sigh as the whole of the garden burst out laughing. 

"You children ought to be more careful," he said to Kat and Boston, "and boys," he swung his gaze towards the oldest members of the family, "I expect better of you." They were all still laughing through, and even Arthur cracked a small smile


	5. She Was Ours First

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know the drill. Who owns Harry Potter? JKR! Who owns OC? ME!
> 
> I just want to say thank you to Kazaqui for being the first review on this story. Lowkey, Boston is my favorite too, mainly because I find it fascinating to write a character that doesn't have any dialogue.
> 
> Alright. Let's get ready to rumble.

Soon the tables were on the ground and right side up. Everyone got to work with dragging out chairs and dinnerware. Someone thought it a good idea to bring flowers as well. Kat always liked the idea of flowers at the dinner table. Her parents never really had any, citing that they died quickly and made a mess, not that they would have ever cleaned it up, not with Neely in their service.

At dinner, it seemed like all had gone back to normal. Fred and George came out a little pink in the ears, but it didn't dampen their mood long, especially after hearing about the game of bumper tables that was played.

"Then Boston leaped 10 meters to catch Kat right before she hit the ground. Dad got there just in time to stop them from hitting the ground. I swear they were up at least 25 meters in the air." Ron had taken to telling the story, and it seemed as though the distances and near-death incidents kept growing.

Fred, who had seated himself on Kat's left, leaned in and whispered to her, "Are you alright?"

She gave him a funny look and then, as if remembering what had happened just last night, a look of recognition crossed her face.

She whispered back, "You don't have to worry, Freddie. I'm fine."

He poked her in her side, right where he knew the nastiest of her bruises were. She let in a sharp hiss and shot him a nasty look. If she could have hexed him with her eyes, he would be on the ground with tentacles sprouting from his face.

"Yeah, you seem fine," he sniped at her.

"That's not really any of your concern, is it?" She hissed back at him.

He fixed her with probably the most severe and rageful look she had ever seen on either of the twins. "You made it my concern when I had to re-break your rib and put it back into place."

"Shut it." She slid her gaze towards Boston, who was thankfully wrapped up in a conversation about the World Cup.

"It's George's concern too," Fred added. His brother was across from him, talking about how excited he was to see Irland take down Bulgaria. "If you keep doing stupid and reckless things, we are going to be concerned."

"Oh, but you two can be stupid and reckless, but in the name of cruel but humorous pranks, then?"

"We don't have a death wish."

"Neither do I."

"Could have fooled me."

"What are you two whispering about over there?" George asked, breaking the little bubble of rage that had covered Fred and Kat.

Boston looked over then as well, slight concern on her face.

"Oh, just your brother being a prat again," Kat said calmly.

Boston shot a glare at Fred, but he paid no attention.

He still had that stern rage etched into his expression. He leaned in again to whisper to Kat. "You can pretend all you want love, just stop trying to get yourself killed, if not for you, then for George and Boston."

"Oh, but not for you?" She cocked up an eyebrow and lifted her chin.

Fred let out a humorless laugh but didn't answer. Instead, he pushed himself into the quidditch conversation, leaving Kat fuming by herself.

Boston looked at her with worry then flicked angry eyes at Fred.

Kat just shook her head. "Don't worry about it. He's just mad because I said that I didn't think Irland would win." Kat knew Boston wouldn't believe the clear lie, but Kat also knew she would drop it.

It was true that Kat and Fred were good friends, but they butted heads more times than not. George had always said that they were too like each other, too impulsive. George and Kat had gotten along much better, becoming friends first.

Like Boston, George had always been fun and reckless and wild but seemed to cool whatever fire raged in Kat that pushed her to do more and more dangerous things. Fred, on the other hand, had always made that fire burn hotter.

Boston had never been particularly fond of either twin on account of them constantly getting Kat into trouble by pulling her into their pranks. She thought that they were terrible influences but never discouraged Kat from spending time with them.

Kat overheard something from the other end of the table that caught her attention. "Who's Bertha Jorkins?" Kat asked Arthur.

"She works in the Ministry."

"She's missing and no one is looking for her," Percy chimed in.

Arthur looked exasperated. "She isn't missing. Ludo Bagman said she does this all the time, just vanishes for a little while only to turn back up a week later."

"It's been nearly a month," Percy retorted.

"Do you think it's serious?" Kat asked.

Arthur said, "I'm not sure," at the same time, Percy said, "Mr. Crouch is very concerned."

Percy continued. "Though Mr. Crouch is under considerable stress due to that thing that's coming up."

Kat made the mistake of asking, "What thing?"

The Weasley children all let out a groan at this, but Percy looked delighted.

"Oh, I can't tell you, Katherine, as it is a Ministry matter and of the utmost importance that it remains top secret."

"Then why are you bringing it up if you can't tell me?"

"Because he likes to feel important," George answered.

"Because you asked," Percy answered, shooting a stern look at George.

Kat was about to argue but felt a hand on her leg. She looked to her left to see Fred shaking his head. "It's not worth it."

George leaned across the table then, "If you get him started, he'll never shut up."

So Kat leaned back in her seat with her arms crossed over her chest. She wasn't pouting. Of course not. She was just agitated that nothing was going the way she wanted them to go.

Molly chimed in as the conversation grew quiet again. "Now, everyone, remember to give me your letters so I can gather your school supplies while you are all at the World Cup."

Boston looked at Kat, wide-eyed, and shook her head.

"Oh no, Molly," Kat interjected. "Boston and I can grab our stuff later in the week."

"Nonsense," Molly waved her off. "There's no need for that, seeing as I'm already going for everyone else."

"But," Kat started.

"Katherine Warner, I will have no arguments. You and Ms. Boston will give me your letters tonight and that is final."

Kat looked at Boston with an apologetic sort of shrug.

Boston had just looked down at her hands in her lap, her exposed stomach folding into waves. Money had always been an issue surrounding Kat's friends. Being from a wealthy family, Kat didn't always understand the stress it brought on people, but she tried her best to empathize nonetheless.

Boston had never truly struggled for money, but it was a sore spot for her anyway. Her parents had put aside funds for her before everything happened, but her guardian had told her to save it, taught her how to live off not much. The money in her vault had since been designated for emergencies.

She was too proud though, to ever ask for help when it came to funds. On the other hand, Kat seemed to always have money and never saw an issue with sharing it with her friends. It had been a point of contention between Kat and her friends, their embarrassment and pride being an obstacle.

The idea of Boston allowing Molly Weasley to buy her school things was unimaginable, as Boston knew that the Weasleys were much like herself.

Kat knew she would have to talk to Molly for them both. However, Kat would have to be careful to choose her words wisely as to not offend the stubborn woman.

The sun began to set, and as it did, Arthur lit candles that suddenly appeared on the tables. Kat looked at everyone through the veil of candlelight. She had a sneaking suspicion that everyone looked better in candlelight. She looked to Charlie and noticed for the first time a nasty looking burn on his right arm going from wrist to elbow.

George was looking at Kat in the new light as well, noticing how her nose seemed to turn up slightly at the end. There were purple smudges under Kat's eyes, and George wondered, not for the first time, if she actually slept well or just closed her eyes and pretended.

Kat's eyes shifted from his brother to himself, and that small smile was on her face. It was a peaceful, content sort of look that was rare enough to take note of. George knew that she gave that smile to him and Boston alone.

George's eyes then shifted to Boston. The girl was odd. There was no other way to put it. It was only with Kat that George saw her without the scowl that seemed a permanent resident on her face, like a freckle or a scar. She never spoke. Never. Her eerie sort of quiet made it easy to be uncomfortable near her. Without Kat, Boston was more threat than friend.

It was only with Kat that Fred and George ever interacted with Boston. If Kat weren't around to be the strange bonding agent, they would barely acknowledge each other's existence. But when Kat was around, it was like someone had turned on a light in an empty home. Boston was a completely different person. Still bizarre in her communication skills and standoff attitude, but it was like life was breathed into her.

George thought that maybe, it wasn't so much of Kat's doing as it was Boston's. Kat could start a conversation with a wall and still have a good time, but Boston was different. He thought perhaps Boston might just be selective with whom she gives her joy.

Yet, here she was, sitting with his family. To an outsider, it would look as if she belonged. He wondered if she felt that way too.

From the story Ron had told about the tables that afternoon, it sounded as if Boston was having fun with everyone, not just Kat. And flying around on brooms that morning, she was clearly letting go and enjoying herself even though Kat wasn't in the air with her.

George wondered if maybe, after all these years, she was starting to choose them the same way she chose Kat. The question was, were they going to choose her back?

"Oh, it is already so late; you should all be in bed," his mother called suddenly, looking at her watch. The sun had set completely, he supposed. "You have a very early morning tomorrow."

So everyone went to bed without any fuss; not even Kat argued. George and Fred, of course, wouldn't be sleeping much, seeing to the fact they had to figure out how to hide all their trick candy before their mother found and destroyed it. They knew she disapproved because it was slightly mean, but couldn't she see how clever they were and how much the boys had longed to find something like this, something that brought them joy and could also bring them money?

Fred and George made their way quickly to their room and started pacing, both clearly on the same wavelength.

"We could hide them in the attic; Mum won't look up there," Fred had suggested.

George shook his head. "The ghoul will get them and then probably rip the house apart out of rage."

"We could store them in Ron's room. You can never find anything in that mess."

George bit his thumbnail and shook his head again. "He won't let us in there after last time."

"It was just a small fire."

"It was his favorite poster." Fred had to concede that point.

Fred kept going. "The broom shed."

"Gnomes."

"The garden."

"Again, gnomes."

"The roof."

"Melted by midday."

"We could take them with us."

George's face lit up. "We could take them with us," he echoed.

"Yeah, we can fill our pocket up before we go," Fred was getting excited now.

"Put them in other places too, just in case Mum finds them, she won't get them all," George suggested.

"Yeah, yeah. We could get Kat to keep a few too. You know she'd help us, I reckon."

George's smile faltered. "What was going on with you and Kat tonight?"

Fred waved that off. "It was nothing, just a normal tiff." George just kept looking at his brother. Fred rolled his eyes. "Fine, yeah, I told her she needed to stop being such a bloody idiot and stop being so reckless. She said it was none of my business and I informed her that it is our business since we were the ones to fix her up last night."

"Yeah, she didn't look too happy," George said thinly.

"She nearly bit my head off, the nutter."

"You know she isn't someone who likes being told what to do. Imagine if she said the same to you. You'd be pretty put out too, I imagine."

Fred looked almost hurt at this, but then it turned angry. "I'm not the one nearly dying from dropping 15 meters from a table I had no business being on in the first place." Fred started pacing again, dragging a hand through his hair. "And Bill and Charlie should have known better too."

George knew when his brother got riled up like this, it was best just to let him spin himself out. "Dad caught them, no problem."

"Them." There was a sort of contempt in his voice that made George's skin prickle. "That bint is always encouraging Kat to do stupid things."

"You know Boston loves Kat."

"We love Kitty Kat! She was ours first!" Fred was breathing heavily. "Ever since she bonded with that non-verbal nightmare of a, she's not even a bloody girl, is she? Dressing like an angry slag all the time. She picks that over us all the time."

"Did you even listen while Ron was telling the story, or when Bill and Charlie were?" Fred looked at his brother with wild eyes.

"Oh yeah, Georgie," Fred said sarcastically. "I listened real hard to the tale of how our friend almost died again."

"Boston jumped off her table to grab Kat. She was going to be the one to take the fall. She was the one on the bottom Fred."

Fred was a new level of angry suddenly. "Oh, and that's meant to be better? Did she even think about how Kat would feel? Knowing her best friend died trying to help her? That would have killed Kitty, and you know it."

"Now you're mad that she cares too much?"

Fred sighed and slumped down onto his bed. He put his head in his hands and was quiet for a long moment. "No," he said after too many heartbeats. "Of course not; Boston is a good fucking friend. I know that." George knew his brother had finally wound down. "It just scared me. Last night."

"Me too."

"I mean, she looked like she shouldn't have even been standing."

"You're right."

"We should have insisted on a Medi Witch. Someone, even Boston, to look her over."

George slumped down on his own bed. "She would have hated us if we had." Fred looked at his twin across from him, pain etched on his face. "She trusts us."

"I'd rather her hate us than see her like that again."

George shook his head. "No. That's not," he sighed. "She's her own person, she's always been. Would you rather her hate us but be whole one time or trust us enough to come to us when she needs help? She's going to keep being reckless whether we are there to help her or not. What happens if she has no one to go to next time?"

"Don't say that. I can't even think about that." Fred's head was back in his hands, his fingers digging into his scalp.

"You know I'm right." Fred lifted his head and looked at George. Anger and grief and something else he didn't know how to name.

He changed the subject. "Who you reckons gonna win?"

"Irland, of course." George laughed slightly.

"Yeah, you're probably right," Fred moved to lay down on his bed, the same place Kat was last night, trying to hide her tears in his pillow. "You usually are."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a Fred friendly fic, but damn that boy.


	6. Oi, Molly

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HP=? you guessed it. JK. Now tougher question. OC=?. That's right! Me. The girl who gets angry doing yoga and gets way too into fictional worlds.
> 
> This is a short chapter. Just a little thing. Hope you like it nonetheless.

Chapter 6: Oi, Molly

Kat had gone into Ginny's room, not to go to sleep, but to dig in her trunk for the gallons she had kept aside for her and Boston's school things. Boston and Kat had come to an agreement long ago that they wouldn't discuss how much Kat really did help out financially. Of course, Boston had handed Kat enough gallons for the basics, but Kat always added her own coins so Boston could have the best.

She grabbed the small pouch and shuffled quickly back down the stairs to the kitchen where Molly was cleaning up, pointing her wand hither and thither, trying to get it all spotless again.

"Oi, Molly," Kat started softly as to not startle the poor woman.

She turned with a smile. "Oh, yes, dear?" She wiped her hands down the front of her bold and stained yellow apron she had somehow dawned between dinner and now.

"I got Boston's and my letters and our share for them." She placed the letters and the pouch on the table between them.

"Your share, dear?" She scrunched her eyebrows together. Then her eyes settled on the pouch. "Oh, no dear, please, I've got it." She tried to wave it away.

"Molly, truly, we insist. Boston was nearly in tears, thinking you might not let us pay our share." Kat might have been exaggerating but not by much.

"Oh, but," Molly tried.

"And it's not as if Harry isn't paying for his school things; I know he has given you access to his vault for these things, and to be honest, if I could let you into mine, I would as well, but, well," Kat trailed off slightly. "Oh, and if you could do me a favor," Kat reached into her back pocket and pulled out a handful more gallons, "I don't know what to get everyone for Christmas, and you're the best at presents. I can guess for the Twins and Boston, but everyone else, I'm a bit hopeless. If you wouldn't mind, that is, could you just look, and if you see something that I could give to the family as a gift, could you pick it up for me?"

Kat knew that she didn't have to get gifts for everyone, in fact, no one would have expected her to. Kat was also brilliant at giving gifts, it was something she prided herself on, but Molly loved helping out more than anything, and it was a relatively simple way to distract her from the original problem.

"Well, of course, I can, and I'll send everything I find with you, of course, but you'll have to wrap it yourself." She waved a finger in Kat's direction. She couldn't help but smile.

"Of course, Molly. You're a real lifesaver." The older witch moved around the table to squeeze Kat into a rather painful hug.

"Of course, dear." She let go and waved another finger at Kat. "Now you'll write and write often. I want to hear all about your year."

"I can tell you during Christmas," Kat started.

"I expect you'll be wanting to stay at Hogwarts this year," Molly said as if it were some off-handed comment, but her small smile betrayed her.

"Why?" Kat asked with intrigue lacing her words.

"You'll find out soon enough dear, now off to bed; you'll be getting up rather early." Molly started kindly shoving Kat towards the stairs. She chuckled to herself and made her way upstairs, slightly worried about what early meant in the Weasley home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kat and mornings do not mix


	7. Bras and Toffees

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since the last chapter was so short, I'm putting this one up now.
> 
> Thank you to everyone who is supporting this story. You have no idea how much it means to me.
> 
> Let's head to the World Cup shall we.

Chapter 7: Bras and Toffees

Kat woke up before the sun, convinced it was still the middle of the night, and in her eyes, it was. Half four in the morning. It was torture is what it was. With a very unladylike groan that sounded similar to that hippogriff from last year, she rolled out of bed, taking the threadbare quilt with her.

Boston, of course, was already up, as well as everyone else. Well, almost everyone. "Where are Bill, Charlie, and Percy?" Kat asked with a large yawn in the middle that distorted Percy's name as she got to the kitchen.

"Oh, they are just going to apparate in later, so they are sleeping in," Molly said sweetly.

"Twats," Kat mumbled to herself.

Boston heard her and turned around with an amused look quirking at the corner of her mouth.

Boston was already dressed, and it was one of the strange times where she wasn't wearing one of those cropped tops. Instead, she was in a black, damaged sweater. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail that started in the middle of the back of her head. Then there were the bottoms. Still black, but they were form-fitting like Kat's jeans. They also were ripped all up and down the legs. It was still very Boston.

Kat watched Boston and smiled, but it faltered when Boston's eyes got wide.

Kat felt a hand go over her mouth and was being pulled backward. The worst part was, Boston went from worried to bending over in a laughing fit that no one could hear. Kat bit into the hand covering her mouth.

"Ow, Kat," hissed an annoyingly familiar voice. Kat bit again, and the hands finally released as they had all gotten into the garden unseen by all but Boston. Kat whirled around to see the identical faces of the Weasley Twins.

"What the hell?" She questioned. She didn't yell, she whispered, but it sounded more like a hiss to the boys.

"We need a favor," they said together.

Kat crossed her arms. "What's in it for me?"

Fred and George shared a quick look then answered, "5%."

Kat pursed her lips then shrugged with her right shoulder. "Alright, what do you need?"

Fred started to empty his pockets of lots of toffees. "We need you to hide these on yourself."

Kat raised an eyebrow.

George also started to empty his pockets. "Come on, darling, we need you."

"Yeah, alright." Kat took handfuls of the candies and stuffed a few in her bra to the raised eyebrows of the boys. "I need to go get dressed anyway; I'll hide the rest with me and some in my trunk."

"Good thinking Kitty Kat."

Kat glared at Fred. "I'm still not happy with you."

He stuffed his hands in the pockets of his muggle jeans that were a sad shade of yellow-beige. He got this cocky look on his face and smiled down at Kat. "Yeah, but I know you still love me."

"That was never the question, was it," Kat huffed and stormed back inside, hiding the rest of the toffees in her arms under the blanket. "Get me breakfast," she hissed to the gingers behind her.

George nodded as if that had always been a part of the plan.

Once getting into Ginny's room, Kat thought it smart to pack a bag of extra clothes for Boston and herself. The Quidditch World Cup had been known to go on for days. Boston also wasn't one for bags. Kat thought it had something to do with her not wanting to be weighed down if she had to leave quickly.

She had a bag with an illegal undetectable extension charm already cast on it for a prank she had pulled with the boys a year or so back. They had needed a hiding spot, and they could all fit through the opening of the bag if they stepped in. To anyone, Argus Filch especially, it would have just looked like a bag someone had left with their other things in the library while they looked for a book or something.

She dumped half the candies into her bag and the other half into her trunk. Why they wanted some at the game, she had no idea, but not knowing was always part of the fun. Then she grabbed a few outfits and warmer muggle clothes into the bag.

Kat came across an order form for Weasley's Wizard Wheezes at the bottom of her trunk and smiled. George had sent it to her at the beginning of summer and told her to keep hold of it so she could be the first to get whatever she wanted. She just found it amusing that they already had so many nasty little ideas. Who comes up with a portable swamp anyway?

Kat shucked off her nightclothes, which were just her day clothes from the day before. She was too lazy to find something else to sleep in. She grabbed a blue short-sleeved blouse that cut off just before her navel and had illogical large buttons on the front with an equally illogical tie on the side. They were all fake, having no actual use. Muggle clothes were so strange and impractical, but she had to admit, she liked the way she looked in them.

She just pulled on tight-fitting black jeans that Boston insisted she looked good in. They came to cover her navel, so it left a barely-there sliver of her middle exposed. Kat had a thought that perhaps she looked a bit like Boston at that moment. That thought made her smile.

She pulled on her black trainers and a thick cardigan that Molly knitted her in her fourth year. She finished it off with Charlie's dragon hide jacket. Pulling the bag over her shoulder, she trotted back downstairs to see a small commotion.

She stayed halfway down the last flight of stairs, looking into the living room as Molly accioed the toffees from the boys, making them fly towards her. So many were emerging from strange places on the boys, like George's jacket lining and the upturned bottoms of Fred's jeans. Kat smiled and shook her head when she felt wiggling in her bra. Her eyes went wide as she quickly slapped a hand over her chest, trying to keep them from flying out. Molly must have heard the slap because she dropped her wand and looked at the worried girl on the stairs.

"Oh, what's the matter, dear?" She asked, concern written in the creases on her forehead.

Kat struggled for words. "Um, well, I just find it shocking really, that the twins would try to smuggle those dangerous candies into the World Cup," she finally spit out. She started to walk again; the wiggling of the candies had stopped. "I mean, with you as a mother, Molly, I just find it shocking at how reckless and thoughtless they can sometimes be." She caught Boston's eye for a moment, and the look told her she was starting to milk it too long. "Anyway, we must be off right, Arthur?"

"Yes. Right. Come on, Weasleys, we can't be late." Arthur started to herd the children out of the house as Molly yelled out.

"You best behave yourself, or there will be no Hogwarts at all this year, and you'll be very sorry about that this year!" They all shared a look, but thought better than to question and angry Molly.

Once they had gotten past the bog and the garden gnomes, Kat jogged up to the boys, leaving the other three girls for a moment. She acted before she thought about it and slapped their arses as she jogged past them, but the shocked look on their faces when they all stopped and she turned to look at them was so worth it.

"Wh-" George started.

"You bleeding numpties!" They looked around and let the rest of the group get a little farther ahead, out of earshot.

"What was that for?" George asked suddenly.

"It can't be that you honestly like our arses," Fred continued.

Kat huffed and cut them off with a wave of her hands. "I actually think you have nice arses and the new muscles make you look right fit, but that is not my point." Fred raised an eyebrow, and George had red spread across his nose, but Kat didn't notice; she was too busy getting ready for her tirade.

"You idiots. How did Molly find the sweets?"

George cleared his throat. "Um, that was me." He raised a hand slightly. Kat slapped him in the arm.

Kat reached down her shirt and grabbed the now warm candies from between her breasts and her bra. "These nearly flew out in front of the whole family, and I will have you know, I did not like that thought at all!" She forced the toffees into George's hands. "Hide them better next time, yeah. Not to mention, why did you not give me all of them to put in the bag?" She motioned to the canvas caramel-colored bag at her side.

Fred smacked himself in the face. "Why didn't we think about that?"

Kat just shook her head. "Because you are idiots."

"Thanks for saving these anyway-" stared George.

"Yeah, you're a real lifesaver there, Kitty Kat-"

"Maybe we should have offered you more than 5%," George thought only to be slapped again in the arm, this time from his brother.

Kat laughed, and it sounded suspiciously close to a snort. "You know I would have done it for 3." She gave them one last smile then jogged to catch up with the girls who were deep in conversation about something.

Fred and George stayed standing in the same spot for a moment. George moved his eyes from the retreating figure of Kat to his brother. Fred's eyes were still glued to Kat, well, a part of her.

"Don't do this," George started.

"What are you on about?" Fred asked. Then he looked at George, his own eyes staring back at him. "Oh, come on, Georgie, you know I don't think about her like that."

"Do I?"

Fred scoffed. "Of course. She's all yours. You called bagsy first year. I respect it." Fred stuffed his hands in his pockets and looked back towards the girls.

"It's not like she would feel that way about me, though," George commented as they started walking towards the rest of the group.

"You got a better chance than me; she can't stand me most of the time."

"But if she did, choose you, that is?"

Fred looked sidelong at his brother. He didn't look sad really, more resolved than anything else. Growing up so close to someone had allowed Fred and George to be able to read each other pretty well. "That's not an issue, yeah. She'd have to be blind to pick me over you. You're basically a couple anyway, well, you and Kat and Boston that is." Fred laughed slightly.

George joined in. "Yeah, it only gets awkward when we all try and squeeze into the small dorm beds."

Fred shook his head, orange hair covering his face. "I'm surprised Boston hasn't kicked you out of your own bed."

"Oh, she has," George laughed. "Kat laughed so hard she fell out as well."

"Yeah, that's our girl."

George looked at his brother again, the same smile on his face he always had when they joked around like this, but it looked like it was malfunctioning slightly, and George couldn't quite place the look. "Yeah. Our girl."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh Georgie.


	8. Harsh Landings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know what to say other than thank you to everyone who is reading this story and to everyone who is commenting. It means the world to me to have this support in a project I am working so hard on.
> 
> Happy Valentine's Day!

Chapter 8: Harsh Landings

The four girls were in deep conversation about different ways you can do your hair and how Hermione could style it to work with the curls instead of against them when they heard a rather nasal voice yell, "Arthur! It's about time."

"Sorry, Amos. Some of us got a bit of a sleepy start." He looked back at Ron, who chose that moment to let out a rather large yawn, and then Kat who put a hand to her chest and looked behind her as if he couldn't be talking about her.

Boston rolled her eyes but smiled. Kat gave her hand a quick squeeze.

"This is Amos Diggory, everyone. Works with me at the Ministry," Arthur informed them.

Suddenly a shape dropped out of the tree they had all walked to. It stood up to reveal it's full height.

"And this strapping young lad must be Cedric, am I right?" Arthur reached out to shake the boy's hand. Kat recognized him, of course, not just because he was the Hufflepuff seeker and very good looking, but because of Boston.

Kat looked over at her stoic dark-haired friend to see her entire face had gone a sunburn shade of red, and she was trying very hard to look at no one.

Kat nudged her with her elbow and wiggled her eyebrows.

Boston just shot her a glare, but the red did not fade.

"Are these all yours, then Arthur?" Amos asked, looking at the brood trailing behind.

"Oh, no. No, just the red-haired ones. Fred, George, Ron, and Ginny." He pointed to each of them as he called their names. "These are their friends from school. Boston, Kat, Hermione, and Harry."

Amos did a double-take at the last name. Kat noticed Harry looked, well he looked tired as the older man marveled at the scar on his head. "Merlin's beard." The older man started. "Harry Potter."

Boston looked over at the dark-haired boy and bit her lip. Kat caught her eye for a moment and gave her a tight-lipped smile.

Kat looked to Cedric, who was looking as if he would rather clean cauldrons for Professor Severus Snape than have his dad talk to Harry. From what the man said, she understood why.

"Ced has told me about you, of course. Told me about the Quidditch game, yeah." Kat heard Fred and George grumble under their breath. "My boy, winning against Harry Potter. That will be something to tell your kids, you know, you beating Harry Potter."

"Dad, I told you it wasn't like that," Cedric tried. Kat thought the boy was nice, a little too nice for her taste but could see Boston finding him quite perfect.

"Oh, come now. You're just being modest. He fell off his broom and you stayed on yours. It seems to me that the person who stays on their broom is the better flyer, wouldn't you say Harry?"

Boston shot Amos a soul withering glare.

"Uh, well," Harry started.

"Hey, Dad, where are we going?" Ginny asked, suddenly directing attention away from the boy in the glasses.

"Well, we have to look for the portkey. It must be somewhere around here."

"It's at the top of the hill," Cedric offered.

"Ah, wonderful," Arthur declared, clapping his hands together.

They all started to walk up the surprisingly steep hill that Kat was silently cursing, though, being a witch, she might have wanted to rethink that.

"Woah!" Fred and George yelled at the grass beneath them had turned into a sludge that was slippery enough to knock them off their feet and onto their faces.

"Keep up, boys," Arthur yelled, not even looking.

Kat and Boston, of course, were laughing so hard their sides starting getting painful cramps.

"Watch your back Warner," they warned Kat.

"So scared," Kat breathed sarcastically.

"Warner?" Amos asked.

"Present," Kat called, raising her hand.

"As in Barton Warner?"

Kat nodded slowly. "Yeah, I'm comprised of half his gene pool."

Amos' smile faltered. "Well, I am sure he is very busy working for the Wizengamot and managing that company of his, but if you have time, let him know I say hi."

Boston grabbed Kat's hand to stop her from the smartass comment that she was about to spit at the man.

"Yeah, of course," the young girl smiled.

Amos turned around, and they all continued their horrid ascent to the top of the hill. Kat wanted this day to be about the Weasleys and Boston, not her father, not the strange way people treated her. She looked over at Harry and felt a pang of empathy. It wasn't like their situations were the same in any way, but she might have understood him a little bit better then.

When they finally made it to the top, Amos called everyone over to a beat-up old boot with rotting laces. "Are we the only ones then?" Arthur asked.

"Oh yes, the Lovegoods have already been camped out for a week and the Fawcetts aren't able to make it this year." Amos said the last part as if it were an issue that the Fawcetts weren't coming.

Everyone circled the boot, and then everyone laid themselves on the grass around the boot, extending their arms to reach for the dirty thing.

"Alright, 3, 2,-" Amos counted down.

"Harry!" Arthur yelled, and the boy grabbed the boot quickly as Amos got to one.

Then they were going. Kat always hated traveling by portkey. It was like someone had driven one of the hook things from the muggle films, the ones that help you scale buildings. It was like someone had driven one of those through her sides and was pulling her forward so fast she was sure the hook was going to rip her in two.

"Son of a Bowtruckle!" Kat cursed as she landed hard on her stomach onto something that wasn't the soft grass they had just been on.

There was a slight groan from under Kat, and as her eyes adjusted to the new light, she saw the scruffy ginger hair of Fred. "Get. Off." He breathed, sounding strangled.

Kat rolled off of him and just lay on her back for a moment, trying to catch her breath. She looked over at Boston, who was fixing her sleek ponytail and looking flustered as Cedric helped her to her feet. Kat looked back at Fred, who was also still on his back.

"Sorry, Freddie." She was still trying to catch her breath. "Guess I'm getting into a habit of falling."

"Three times," Fred gritted, his voice having an edge to it.

"What?" She asked, confused.

"You have fallen three times in as many days. Two of them could have killed you!"

Kat sighed and sat up, letting her head adjust to the new angle as it got fuzzy. "Are we on this again?"

"I'm just saying, I won't always be there to catch you," Fred huffed, getting to his feet and offering his hand to Kat.

She looked at it suspiciously, then chose not to take it and stand on her own. "Oh dear Fredward," she sighed, patting his stomach as she pasted, "you love me too much to let me fall."

Fred scoffed as he trailed behind her, making their way to the hill everyone was stopped on. He looked out at what seemed to catch everyone else's attention and saw it then, the Quidditch World Cup, well, the campsite at least.

It was jam-packed with all sorts of tents of varying sizes and enchantments. The ones supporting the Irish had charmed four-leaf clovers to canopy their tents, while the wizards supporting Bulgaria were enchanting the grass to be red and black and sound like beating drums when you walked on it.

"Ah yes, we never can help showing off when we all get together," Arthur commented to no one particular, but perhaps it was aimed at Harry, who was looking around in complete astonishment.

Kat and Boston walked hand in hand between the tents and the excitement, Boston pointing at things she found fascinating or enchanting or just downright funny. Kat loved seeing that kind of joy on her friend's face, as it was so often set with disdain.

"Keep up, girls," Arthur called from somewhere far ahead. Kat looked around wizards dressed as blind muggles apparently with the clothes they decided to pair. She saw a group of orange and moved towards it, Boston still holding her hand.

They all finally stopped at an empty plot squished between a large green tent with a chimney coming out the top and a medium-sized red tent that seemed to shimmer.

"Alright, Amos, this is us," Arthur said, addressing the only other adult of the group.

"We'll see you at the match!" Amos called as he and Cedric moved through the tents again.

"See you later," Cedric called.

"See ya," Fred called back.

"Later, Ced," George picked up the rest of the sentence.

Boston gave him a small smile as red crept slowly from her chest to her neck.

Kat gave a little chuckle and squeezed Boston's hand once, raising one eyebrow.

Boston sighed dramatically, no sound audible. She tried to school her face into trained nonchalance, but her eyes kept staring back at the Hufflepuffs retreating frame.

"You do have a thing for tall older boys, don't you?" It wasn't a question because the answer was clear.

Unlike Kat, Boston did not find this amusing and released Kat's hand only to swing it at the elbow, her hand smacking into Kat's chest.

"Ow! Bint!" Kat yelled.

Boston looked stricken, but her face quickly went feral. She waved her hand in the general direction of Kat, moving up and down as if to say she was one to talk.

"You hit me!" Kat yelled again.

Boston crossed her arms and shrugged, jutting her chin out at the smaller girl.

"Merlin's beard! It was a bloody joke." Kat threw her hands in the air.

"What's going on now?" Arthur asked, worried as he noticed them arguing while he unpacked the tent.

"Nothing," Fred sighed, crossing his arms.

"I thought they were friendly."

"They are," George answered. "They're best mates, sisters, really."

"Then why are they-" Arthur didn't finish his sentence.

Kat raised her hands in surrender. "Fine. Whatever. Bloody sensitive is what you are," Kat said.

Boston swung her hand and it connected with the back of Kat's head.

"Oi!"

Boston stuck her tongue out at Kat.

Arthur looked like he was about to step in, but both girls started laughing before he could.

Arthur looked to the twins and asked, "What just happened?"

George smiled at them both. "That's how they fight."

"They just yell, well Kitty yells, and then they laugh about it," Fred said.

"Right," Arthur said, clapping his hands together, "we should get our tent set up, yes?" He went back to the tent that he had pulled out and was asking Harry and Hermione how to erect it.

Boston touched her friend's arm and nodded her head towards them.

"You know I have no idea how to do that," Kat said.

Boston rolled her eyes and went over to the hopeless trio to show them how to put up a tent without magic.

"What was that about?" Fred asked, coming up behind Kat and standing to her left.

Kat crossed her arms. "You know I would never give away her secrets."

"Yet you tell her ours," Fred grumbled.

Kat looked up at the boy and squinted. "No." She shook her head. "I don't tell anyone your secrets. You must know that, Freddie."

He shrugged. He set his mouth in a hard line, looking at a bruise that was forming near her hairline on her forehead. Fred smoothed his thumb over it without really meaning to. Kat sucked in a quick breath and he removed his hand. "When did that happen?"

Kat shrugged in a way that told Fred that she didn't actually care. "Who knows. Maybe it was when I fell on you."

"Hmm."

"Something wrong, is there?" Kat looked up with those dark eyes with purple creeping from the corner under her eyes.

"Just don't like the idea of hurting you." Fred looked at his brother, who was standing a few paces back, his hands in his pockets. "Don't like hurting anyone."

Kat huffed a laugh. "Sure you don't, Fredward. That's why you pull all those harmless pranks."

George finally got the nerve to come and join their little conversation. "What's this now?" He had a broad smile on his face as he approached.

"Fred is trying to get me to give up trade secrets. Can you believe that, Georgie?"

George rolled his eyes at his strange little friend. "Yeah, darling, it's pretty easy to believe." He raked a hand through his long hair the way Kat had seen his father do so many times.

"Looks like they're about done with the tent, yeah." Fred pointed behind Kat to a small gray A-frame tent held up by spikes that Kat had no idea how they hammered into the ground.

The three of them trotted over to the tent and went inside as Arthur said, "Muggles have such an interesting way of doing things, don't they."

The inside of the tent was far bigger than the outside, probably the size of the first floor on The Burrow, but it was hard to tell without a staircase clogging up the middle. There were great swaths of fabric covering the tent's ceiling, giving it an almost Moroccan feel. There was a smell of smoke from the fireplace and a cat. Kat looked at the table in the back as Fred and George pushed their way towards it, claiming two out of the four seats. They swung their feet up onto the table and looked rather relaxed. Kat noticed a kitchen next to a curtained off alcove on the right side that must have been a sleeping room. Boston nudged Kat with her shoulder and handed her the bag she must have dropped at some point. Boston nodded her head towards the curtained off bunk beds on the left side.

Just as she did, Arthur called, "Girls, choose a bunk and unpack." Ginny and Hermione were giggling as they all made their way to the little alcove that held two sets of bunk beds. Ginny and Hermione looked at each other and half-heartedly fought for the top bunk. Ginny had scrambled up first, claiming it for herself, to no one's surprise. Boston sat on the bottom bunk of the opposite bed. Kat threw the bag up to the top and considered that unpacked.

Kat heard Arthur yell, "Get out of the kitchen, Ron, we're all hungry."

"Yeah, get out of the kitchen, Ron," the coursing voices of Fred and George echoed. Kat shook her head and peaked out of the alcove at them.

"Feet of the table!" Arthur called to them.

They lifted their legs as if to do as he said, but Arthur was still on the move, so they lowered them back down to the table as they echoed again, "Feet of the table!"

At the mention of food, Kat realized she had never eaten lunch or grabbed food from the boys. She placed a hand on her stomach just as Boston came up beside her and held out a muffin to her.

Kat gasped. "You do love me, don't you!" Kat hugged the quiet girl around the neck.

Boston stiffened at the sudden contact but relaxed and wrapped her free arm around Kat's back. Kat felt the pain bloom in her back from the contact but refused to let go yet. Unfortunately, Kat's stomach decided it was going to start making loud, rumbling whale noises. Boston pulled back and held the muffin out to her friend.

Kat didn't even grab it before she leaned in and took a huge bite off the top. Boston's eyes widened and she dropped the muffin into Kat's hands.

Kat giggled around the food. "I am not eating it wrong, just different."

Boston just shook her head but smiled as Kat took another bite, causing her cheeks to puff out.

George was watching the girls and remembered that they were supposed to grab her breakfast. He leaned closer to Fred.

Fred just nodded. "Yeah, I forgot too." They shared a grimace.

"She's going to kill us."

"Or eat us instead," Fred commented. George couldn't help where his mind went, and a goofy smile spread across his face. Fred looked over and laughed. "Get your mind out the gutter, Georgie." He saw George lean back and cross his arms. He just shook his head as Fred laughed again, seeing a twitch at the corner of George's mouth that looked like it might have been a smile.

"Oi!" They heard the booming voice of Kat call out to them. They swivel their heads to see her, well George did, Fred just flopped his head back and saw her upside down. "Where's my breakfast?"

"Uhhh," the boys started. Much to their relief Arthur cut in.

"Alright, kids, we need water and firewood." Arthur clapped his hands together. He pointed at Harry, Ron, and Hermione. "Why don't you three go get water, yeah."

"I think I saw a tap over by where we came in," Hermione called, glad she could be helpful.

"Great," Arthur said, beaming and handed Harry and Ron two rather large buckets. They came up to the boys' mid-shin and were twice as wide as their legs. They were probably going to have a little trouble getting them back here full.

Boston must have been thinking the same thing because she slipped her wand out of the pocket of her jeans, though Kat had a difficult time believing that it had been in there. She couldn't hide a sickle in those jeans. She aimed it at the buckets in front of the younger boys and they rattled slightly, but it seemed like no one noticed.

"What did you just do?" George whispered between Boston and Kat. Boston jumped slightly then glared at him.

Kat waved him off. "She just charmed them so they won't get heavy, didn't she."

"Never ceases to impress," Fred commented from Kat's other side.

"Which part?"

Fred smiled at Kat, then looked to Boston, who had an eyebrow arched and her jaw clicked to the side. "All of it. The wordless magic, the wordless communication. All of it."

Boston bared her teeth at him.

"Everyone adapts differently, Fredward. Boston's special even without everything that impresses you." Kat tried to smooth it over, knowing a fight between Fred and Boston would end in the World Cup field in cinders.

"I didn't mean it like that," Fred defended.

"It's just interesting to watch, that's all," George helped.

Kat looked to Boston who just set her face into a bored glare, and shrugged.

Arthur cut the small tension that spread between them as the three 4th years had gone out of the tent. "Now, Ginny, can you help me get this tent ready for three other people?" Ginny nodded at her father. "Brilliant. Fred, George, take the girls and go get firewood so we can have a real muggle campfire."

Kat got a rather wide smile on her face and she whipped her head towards Boston, who was giving the evil version of that smile. It unnerved Fred and George.

"We're on it, dad," George choked out, and the four of them scurried out of the tent.

Kat turned on the boys as they all escaped into the world. "We should split up, cover more ground." Everyone looked at her as if she was unaware that someone had cast a bat bogie hex on her. "What?"

Boston scoffed in her way, and George laughed. "Darling, we all know that you'll just sneak off to look at all the people."

"Then you'll get lost," Fred added.

"We'll have to look for you-"

"Boston will worry-"

"Do you want Boston to worry?" George sounded very concerned, and Boston wore a mock look of despair.

Kat pointed at the three of them. "You all are ganging up on me."

Boston nodded as the boys shrugged in unison.

"This will not do, will it. I do not like this at all."

The three laughed, and Boston nodded towards the forest just up ahead, behind Kat.

"Fine," Kat sulked.

Kat was grumbling at the backs of the other three the whole way to the forest, something about them not letting her have any fun and an unholy alliance.


	9. Feed the Beast

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess what? Another chapter! Yay.

Chapter 9: Feed the Beast

The four of them got back to the tent to see two cots put out in the center of the room, presumably for the older boys who were all sitting at the small table, talking about something.

Kat dumped her armful of kindling near the entrance, knowing they would also use it in the fireplace later. Boston followed suit, dusting off her hands and then looking at them. She held them up for Kat to inspect palms out. Kat looked at them, seeing dirt stuck on to spots.

"Sap?" Kat asked.

Boston nodded with a frown, but before anyone could do anything, Boston dragged her palms down the sleeves of Kat's jacket with a wicked smile.

Kat was momentarily dumbstruck but then closed her mouth that had hinged open. "Oh, I'm going to get you back for that."

Boston chuckled.

"Don't think I won't," Kat warned. "I know where you sleep."

Boston waved her off.

Fred and George put down their bundles with the girls and started to make their way towards their brothers when Kat's small frame stepped into their path. She had her hands anchored on her hips as she looked up at both of them with a stern and unwavering gaze.

"Can we help you, darling?" George asked, slight worry bobbing in his voice.

Boston had come up behind Kat to look at the exchange when suddenly Kat's eyes fluttered and she fell backward. Boston barely had time to catch her, her arms hooked under Kat's. She slowly lowered the girl to the ground, so she was lying down, her head on Boston's lap.

"Kitty Kat!" Fred called.

George was on his knees beside her immediately, putting his hands on either side of her face. She had passed out. Her eyes slowly fluttered open and George looked down at her blurry brown eyes or was it his eyes making things blurry. "Are you alright, Kat?" His voice was so soft.

"Maybe," Kat whispered. George leaned in closer to hear her and so did Fred. "If only," she started quietly, then got much louder, "someone had remembered my breakfast!" Everyone looked shocked, even the other Weasleys who were watching nervously from the sidelines. Then came the anger.

Fred, "That was not even close to funny."

George, "Worst prank you could pull."

Boston, well Boston just harshly shoved Kat off her lap and stood with her arms crossed.

Charlie, "You didn't have breakfast?"

Bill, "What the hell just happened?"

Arthur, "It's like there's three of them now."

Ginny, "That was wicked." The youngest of the Weasleys helped Kat to her feet and smiled, being the only one to find that funny. "How did you know Boston would catch you?"

Kat laughed and shrugged, looking to her best friend. "She'd never let me fall, would she. Not alone."

The anger on Boston's face melted and turned to a small smile. She reached to hug her friend, and Kat melted into her arms. Then, roughly, Boston shoved her away. She crossed her arms again and tapped her foot on the ground.

Charlie cleared his throat, and everyone turned to the table in the back. "We were just about to do lunch."

Kat beamed. "Brilliant. I'm starved." Kat nearly ran over to the table.

Hermione came through the entree of the tent with Ron and Harry not far behind. The boys set down the buckets of water next to the pile of wood. "Did you say lunch?" Ron asked, nearly knocking Kat out of the way.

"Oi Roland, watch where you're walking," Kat warned half-heartedly. "Let your elders eat first."

Ron looked at her, already towering over her. "What's that saying? Age before beauty?"

Kat tried her best not to grin, and her muscles ached with the unsuccessful effort. "Oh, you cheeky git." Kat looked at the tabletop, completely empty. "Where's the food anyway?"

"We watched you eat a muffin earlier," George chimed finally, seeming to have forgiven her small prank.

"Yeah. A muffin. I'm a growing girl. I need more than a muffin."

"Are you?" Fred asked.

"Am I what?"

"Growing?" Fred smiled to himself.

Boston smiled with him, apparently finding the comment very amusing.

"Oh, shut it, Fredward. Not all of us can grow to be taller than the doorframe." She looked at George then. "At least Georgie never makes fun of my height."

George cleared his throat. "Why would I? There's no fun in picking the low hanging fruit." The whole tent seemed to shudder with laughter.

Percy rolled his eyes. "You know, Mr. Crouch would never allow such a disorganized gathering. It is just simply inappropriate."

Ron huffed. "Yeah, Percy? And what part of this family has ever been appropriate?"

"Well, it would suit us better to strive to be more professional in public settings," Percy scoffed.

"Ah, yes, Percy, you're right!" Fred called. "In the very public setting of our own tent with no one else here!"

"Well, they are not family," Percy pointed out, motioning to Harry, Hermione, Boston, and Kat. "So technically, we are in mixed company."

"What are you going on about?" Ron asked his older brother. "Harry and Hermione are family."

"Not by blood," Percy pushed.

Kat couldn't help but feel a pit in her stomach that grew with each moment that no one stood and called her family. Boston came up and took her hand, standing slightly behind Kat. She put her chin on Kat's shoulder and leaned her head against Kat's. It said, 'we are family' better than any words.

Kat twisted and planted a kiss on the side of the dark-haired girl's head and turned back to the argument unfolding.

"They don't have to be blood, do they." Ginny piped. The young girl looked towards the two older ones huddled close together, communicating with each other without saying a word, both of their eyes a little too sad for the moment of joy that was just a moment past. But, a lot can happen in a moment.

"That's the definition of family, Ginny," Percy explained patronizingly.

Kat jumped slightly at the form that came to stand next to her. George. On the other side Fred. "Come off it, Percy," George said, more of a warning than anything.

"Yeah, come on, Perc. Mum wouldn't want you saying that, would she." Bill, always the voice of reason.

George took Kat's free hand in his own and interlaced their fingers. She let him.

"All I'm saying is, we should work on our image," Percy continued.

"Why?" Charlie asked. "Kat came to breakfast without bottoms yesterday."

"Which," Percy started in again, getting a little pink on his nose, "is completely inappropriate, and if her father knew about it-"

Kat cut him off. "I. Am. Right. Here." She wasn't loud, but she wasn't quiet either. The room became very tense.

Arthur walked back in from the kitchen, several platters of food trailing behind him. "Who's ready for lunch?" He took in all the strained faces of his children and those in his care. "What's happened?"

Kat looked over her shoulder at Boston, their noses nearly touching. Boston just nodded and stood up straight. "Nothing, Arthur. Boston and I were just saying that we were going to go explore a little more before the game." They started towards the tent flaps.

"Weren't you hungry Kat?" Arthur asked, very confused.

She looked back and beamed a smile. "Don't worry. I'm sure we can find some food." Then they were gone.

"She is dramatic that one," Percy said as he reached for a plate that had just landed on the table. The room was still, eerily still and quiet. "You know Mr. Warner is on the Wizengamot, and I am sure he would be utterly embarrassed if he knew his daughter was walking around without bottoms, and in front of her classmates and members of the Ministry." Everyone just stared, either at Percy or Fred and George, or the tent flap that swayed slightly with the breeze.

Without another word, Ginny, George, and Fred followed through the tent's opening to set out to look for the two girls.

They weren't in the immediate sight of the tent and Fred cursed quietly under his breath.

"You didn't say anything," Ginny commented over the constant low rumble of everyone around them.

"What?" Fred asked.

"When Percy said Kat and Boston weren't family. You didn't say anything."

George stepped in. "Kat and Boston know they're family."

"Do they?" Ginny asked.

Fred, now angry as they walked around looking for the two girls, "Why didn't you say anything then?"

Ginny looked angrily up at her brother. "It's not my place, is it. That would be your place, wouldn't it? You're her best friends." She threw her hands in the air and sighed. "Even Ron stood up for Harry and Hermione."

"Boston's not family," Fred said suddenly.

"What?" Ginny almost yelled.

Fred took a deep, hasty breath and ran his hand through his hair. "Kat's family, right, and that's brilliant. Boston is Kat's family, and they are joined at the bloody hip, but Boston is not our family."

George shook his head. "Kat's family is our family."

Ginny nodded. "He's right, Fred."

"Whatever, let's just find them. I doubt they went far." Fred turned towards the stands and started heading towards them, thinking they would want to hide in the crowd.

Fred wasn't mad, not really, George knew that, of course. His brother was always a little hotheaded and didn't have much of a filter. It still surprised him that Fred had never voiced his opinion about Boston anywhere near where Kat could hear, or Boston for that matter. George was fairly certain, smaller and quieter than him or not, Boston would have knocked him arse over tits.

George looked at his twin, who was stomping away, somewhere into the crowd. He shook his head and looked at his little sister. Ginny. She was just about as hot-headed as Fred was, but had more control. He nodded his head towards Fred. "Come on, Gin. Let's make sure he doesn't start any fights that we have to finish."

"That's likely," Ginny snorted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just want to punch Percy in the face sometimes


	10. Feet Never Touch The Ground

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a short one, but it's a sweet one.

Chapter 10: Feet Never Touch The Ground

It wasn't more than 10 minutes later when the three redheads came across the girls. Kat and Boston were flying brooms above a bunch of Bulgaria fans laughing like maniacs; well, Kat was. Fred guessed that they had "found" those brooms and the owners wanted them back. Fred jogged a little to get to a place the girls could see him.

Boston spotted the three of them first, her face falling into a grim line. She flew over to Kat, who was attempting to stand on the broom, and tapped her on the arm. Kat jumped slightly and nearly tumbled to the ground but caught herself in time. She looked to where Boston had indicated on the ground. George waved at her and Boston, and Ginny was shaking her head in amusement, a smile forcing its way onto the young girl's face.

"Alright, come down now, before you hurt someone," Fred called up.

Kat giggled. "So, you're no longer afraid of me hurting myself?"

Cheeky, Fred thought. "You and brooms are dangerous for everyone Kitty Kat. Come on, let's get lunch. I'm sure Boston is hungry." He looked at the dark-haired girl who scowled down at him, but when Kat swung her gaze towards her, her expression changed to a small smile, and she nodded. Fred wondered why she had sided with him, and for the second time today, no less.

Kat rolled her brown eyes and flew down at a rate of speed that was not only horrifying but also potentially hazardous. If wizards hadn't moved away fast enough, he was sure one of them would have been skewered on the end of the broom.

She hopped off the broom, Boston so close behind it, they almost moved in unison, and they chucked the brooms towards two very irked looking men who Fred guessed where the owners.

"Since when do you like ruining all the fun, Freddie?" Kat quipped at him, but the smile that wouldn't vanish from her face told him she wasn't mad at him.

"Since when has Boston allowed you back on a broom since last time?" He quipped back.

Boston shrugged, and Kat rolled her eyes. "Her eyebrow grew back just fine last time thank you very much." Boston bumped her shoulder against Kat's, and they shared their version of a laugh.

"Yeah?" George joined in, "Well, I almost lost an ear last time." His twin was smiling down at the girl.

It wasn't uncommon for Fred to find George looking at Kat the way he was now. With joy and love and amusement. It wasn't the same way Kat looked at anyone. Fred wondered for the first time if the girl had ever fallen for someone. George had always held a torch for Kat sure, but he had also fallen for Katie Bell in 4th year after she knocked Flint off his broom during a game of Quidditch. Fred himself had gone around with a few girls as well, not ever calling himself in love but coming very close. Even Boston seemed to admire Cedric from afar with a scary intensity.

Sure, she had had a crush on Charlie for a summer, but it wasn't the same, not by kilometer.

Kat's laugh jolted him out of his thoughts. "You would look good with one ear," she told George.

"You think?"

"Oh yeah!" Kat continued, "It would give you a very dangerous look that drives the girls crazy."

Boston nodded along with Kat and sent a wink towards George. It was bizarre to see and made Fred feel almost nervous.

Ginny laughed slightly at the look on both the twins' faces. Fred wondered if even Ginny was aware of how George felt. By the look she was giving him, Fred would have wagered that she was.

They walked back to the tent, and Ginny, who was leading them, turned around right before they had gotten to their campsite.

"You know that you two are family, yeah?" There was a particular emphasis on the word two, and Fred knew it was a dig at him.

Boston nodded slowly, probably just to appease the girl and Kat said, "Of course Gin, it's just nice to hear every now and again."

"Yeah, and don't listen to Percy," George added.

Fred stepped in as well. "He thinks he is very important now, working for the Ministry."

To Fred's surprise, Boston actually spat on the ground at the mention of Percy's name.

"Hey," Kat said to her angry friend. "Hating him is not going to make him accept us as family."

Boston shook her head with a sneer on her face. She motioned to the three redheads and then to Kat. Then she pointed to herself and shook her head. She moved her hand quickly between Kat and herself and nodded her head.

"Well, you don't have to be, I guess, but are you mad that I am?" Kat twisted her fingers and shifted her weight from one foot to the other.

Boston shook her head, and her expression turned a little sad. She placed a hand over her heart and then moved closer and put the other over Kat's, then she drew a line in the air between them and gave Kat a small smile. For the first time, Fred was sure he had understood what Boston was trying to say.

Kat gave the same smile back to her friend. "Of course I'm all you need. I'm the best," she joked.

Boston's smile widened, and she looked up and shook her head.

Fred felt a pang in his chest and had a thought he had had for six years now. Boston was one day going to take Kat away from him and George.


	11. Baggman

Chapter 11: Baggman

After lunch, which Kat nearly inhaled, they had all gone outside because Arthur wanted to start a fire the muggle way. After they had set up some wood logs into what looked like a tent for tree sprites, Boston had shown Arthur how to use matches to light the fire. Unfortunately, the man was far more fascinated with the matches themselves and kept burning them out before even remembering he was also trying to light the tiny wood tent.

Kat looked at her friend that was smiling at the older balding man and wondered if she really was enough for her, or if somewhere, deep down, Boston wanted more family than just Kat. In some horrible dark part of Kat's heart, she did want to be the only one for Boston, the one person Boston loved. She'd never really been that, not with her parents, not with her family, not with Fred and George. Just Boston.

It had always been her and Boston, until all the magic left the world.

Harry and Hermione also seemed to be entertained by the amount of joy Arthur was getting, being so fascinated with the matches. Kat still thought it would have been smarter to just use magic. The small sticks that produce a little bit of fire for a moment don't seem all that efficient.

Eventually, Hermione took pity on the man and showed him how to properly start a fire with the matches, and soon the wood caught. Unfortunately, it took nearly an hour for the fire to get hot enough for the kettle to start boiling for any drinkable tea.

They were all sitting around the fire, having small conversations of their own. Fred and George had huddled together slightly, coming up with different things to add to their prank products, though they still had the issue of Molly not letting them actually make, sell, or keep their products.

Arthur had taken to telling Harry and Hermione about all the people from the Ministry that he knew. It was just a simple fact that no one else was all that interested in the people of the Ministry for various reasons. Bill, Charlie, and Kat had got talking about their work. Bill, who worked as a curse breaker for Gringotts, had some fantastic stories and had different tips about breaking some simple curses. Charlie, who worked with Dragons in Romania, really only wanted to talk about the different dragons he trained and their personalities. It seemed to Kat that Charlie was a proud parent of nearly a dozen dragons. Boston was fine enough sitting, listening in on the different conversations, finding the twins conversation the most interesting. Percy was sulking, poking at the fire, mainly because no one really wanted to talk to him.

They had gotten halfway through their first cuppa when Arthur jumped up, waving and grinning at a man that was walking towards them.

"Aha!" he said. "The man of the moment! Ludo!"

Kat had never actually met the man in person, but Ludo Bagman was recognizable from anywhere in the world. He was in old Quidditch robes in black and yellow with a massive wasp on the front, splashed garishly across his chest. It was also curiously around two sizes too small around the middle.

Kat suspected that Ludo might have looked very much like Fred and George in his youth, still having the shape of a beeter. Ludo still had a boyish face, but the way he smiled made Kat think that he was one of the boys she usually avoided.

"Ahoy there!" Ludo called back happily. He bounced every step he took and looked remarkably like that tiger thing in the muggle moving picture about the yellow bear in the woods, too excited for his own good.

"Arthur, old man," he puffed as he reached the campfire, "what a day, eh? What a day! Could we have asked for more perfect weather? A cloudless night coming . . . and hardly a hiccough in the arrangements . . . Not much for me to do!"

Boston rolled her eyes as they all saw some very weary Ministry wizards run past, pointing towards some distant purple sparks rushing 7 meters in the air. Apparently, everyone was supposed to be keeping their magic contained so muggles wouldn't catch that anything was strange. The Ministry was really asking a lot there.

Percy, always the kiss arse, rushed forward with his hand outstretched. Always wanting to make a good impression on people he perceived to have authority that he one day wanted for himself.

"Ah, yes," said Arthur, grinning, "this is my son Percy. He's just started at the Ministry. And this is Fred, no, George, sorry, that's Fred, Bill, Charlie, Ron, my daughter, Ginny, and their friends, Kat Warner, Boston, Hermione Granger, and Harry Potter."

It escaped no one's notice the slight double-take that Ludo took when he heard Harry's name, and like everyone else, his eyes flicked towards the scar on Harry's forehead.

"Kids," Arthur continued, "this is Ludo Bagman, you know who he is, it's thanks to him we have such good tickets."

Ludo grinned brightly and waved a hand as if to say that it had been nothing. Kat and Boston exchanged a look. False modesty, they thought.

"Fancy a flutter on the match, Arthur?" he asked eagerly, jingling what sounded like a large amount of gold in the pocket of his robes. "I've already Roddy Pontner betting me Bulgaria will score first. I offered him some nice odds, considering Ireland's front three are the strongest I've seen in years. And, uh, little Agatha Timms has put up half shares in her eel farm on a week-long match."

"Oh, go on then," said Arthur. "Let's see . . . a Galleon on Ireland to win?"

"A Galleon?" Ludo looked slightly disappointed, but recovered himself. "Very well, very well. Any other takers?"

"They're a bit young to be gambling," said Arthur, running his hand through the thinning hair at the top of his head. "Molly wouldn't like-"

"We'll bet thirty-seven Galleons, fifteen Sickles, three Knuts," Fred called as he and George started to pool all their money, "that Ireland wins, but Viktor Krum gets the Snitch. Oh, and we'll throw in a fake wand."

As Percy hissed, "You don't want to be showing Mr. Bagman rubbish like that-" Boston was digging in her pocket and handing Kat muggle money. Kat had no idea how much that actually was but pocketed it and started getting out her own money.

Ludo looked at the fake wand in amazement. His boyish face lit with excitement as he took it from Fred, and when he gave a loud squawk and turned into a rubber chicken, Ludo roared with laughter.

"Excellent! I haven't seen one this convincing in years! I'd pay five Galleons for that!"

Percy froze in an attitude of stunned disapproval.

"Boys," said Mr. Weasley under his breath, "I don't want you betting. That's all your savings . . . Your mother-"

"Don't be a spoilsport, Arthur!" boomed Ludo, rattling his pocket excitedly. Boston scrunched her nose at this. "They're old enough to know what they want! You reckon Ireland will win but Krum'll get the Snitch? Not a chance boys, not a chance. I'll give you excellent odds on that one, and we'll add five Galleons for the funny wand then shall we."

Mr. Weasley looked on helplessly as Ludo whipped out a notebook and quill and began jotting down the twins' names.

"Cheers," said George, taking the slip of parchment Ludo handed him and tucking it away in the front pocket of his muggle jeans.

"Boston and I will match that bet, minus the wand 0f course. We have never been blessed with such a gift," Kat said, coming forward, eyeing George. He scoffed at her and silently promised to get her one as soon as possible.

"Excellent, excellent! And you'll be betting the same as them then, young lady?" Kat nodded, handing the money to Ludo as he started to jot down in his notepad again. "And your names again?"

"Katherine Warner and Boston."

"Boston what?" Ludo asked.

"Just Boston."

Ludo's smile slipped a little. "Unfortunately, young lady, we will need a last name for the bet."

Kat stared him down, as did the striking Boston behind her. "I don't believe you do Ludo, as you already have our bet as well the word of House Warner."

Boston had not heard Kat use that tone of voice often, and she doubted any of the Weasleys had at all. Kat once explained it as the international tone of the proud and arrogant. Something you're born with and have to struggle against. It's the voice of the heir to the House of Warner.

Ludo looked at Kat again, and his throat bobbed in what seemed like a painful way. "Of course, Ms. Warner, you're right of course. I am very sorry, Ms. Warner."

"It wasn't me that you had the issue with." Her tone was sharp and cutting.

Ludo faced Boston, who seemed to be sucking on the inside of her cheek, her arms crossed over her chest. Kat looked back at her and thought that perhaps Boston looked like some sort of warrior Goddess, like Athena or Eris.

Ludo swallowed. "Of course, Ms. Boston, I am very sorry for the misunderstanding."

Boston just nodded at the man and turned towards the fire to sit down, her ponytail swinging back and forth like a pendulum.

Kat held out her hand for the betting slip, and she noticed Ludo's hands shook ever so slightly as he placed it in her palm. She followed Boston to the fire and sat down next to her, bumping her shoulder against her friend's.

Ludo turned back to Arthur with a strange cheerfulness that did not meet his eyes. "Couldn't do me a brew I suppose? I'm keeping an eye out for Barty Crouch. My Bulgarian opposite number's making difficulties, and I can't understand a word he's saying. Barty'll be able to sort it out. He speaks about a hundred and fifty languages."

"Mr. Crouch?" exclaimed Percy, suddenly abandoning his look of poker-stiff disapproval and positively writhing with excitement. "He speaks over two hundred! Mermish and Gobbledegook and Troll . . ."

"Anyone can speak Troll," said Fred dismissively. "All you have to do is point and grunt."

Percy threw Fred an extremely nasty look and stoked the fire vigorously to bring the kettle back to the boil.

Fred and George plonked themselves as bookends, with Boston and Kat in the middle. "What was that?" George whispered at Kat.

She smiled and opened her mouth to answer when Arthur asked, "Any news of Bertha Jorkins yet, Ludo?" Ludo settled himself on the grass next to them, far enough from Kat that maybe she wouldn't notice him. Kat caught Charlie and Bill's shared look and then their smile back at Kat and Boston.

"Not a dicky bird," said Ludo comfortably. "But she'll turn up. Poor old Bertha, memory like a leaky cauldron and no sense of direction. Lost, you take my word for it. She'll wander back into the office sometime in October, thinking it's still July."

"You don't think it might be time to send someone to look for her?" Arthur suggested hesitantly as Percy handed Ludo his tea.

"Barty Crouch keeps saying that," said Ludo, his round eyes widening innocently, "but we really can't spare anyone at the moment. Oh, talk of the devil! Barty!"

Barry Crouch had just apparated by their fireside, looking worlds different from Ludo, who was sprawled in the grass in his old quidditch robes.

Barty was a stiff, upright, elderly man, dressed in an impeccably crisp suit and tie. The parting of his short gray hair was almost unnaturally straight, and his narrow toothbrush mustache looked as though he trimmed it with a slide ruler. Kat looked at his black shoes, which were so shiny, she could see her reflection in them. Of course Percy idolized him. Percy was a great believer in rigidly following rules, and Barty Crouch had complied with the rule about muggle dressing so thoroughly that he could have passed for a bank manager or a lawyer.

"Pull up a bit of grass, Barty," said Ludo brightly, patting the ground beside him.

"No thank you Ludo," said Barty, and there was a bite of impatience in his voice. "I've been looking for you everywhere. The Bulgarians are insisting we add another twelve seats to the Top Box."

"Oh is that what they're after?" asked Ludo. "I thought the chap was asking to borrow a pair of tweezers. Bit of a strong accent."

"Mr. Crouch!" said Percy breathlessly, sunk into a kind of half-bow that made him look like a hunchback. "Would you like a cup of tea?"

"Oh," said Barty, looking at Percy in mild surprise. "Yes, thank you, Weatherby."

Fred and George choked into their cups, and Kat had a challenging time not bursting with laughter. Percy, very pink around the ears, busied himself with the kettle.

"Oh and I've been wanting a word with you too, Arthur," Barty said, his sharp eyes swinging to the oldest Weasley. "Ali Bashir's on the warpath. He wants a word with you about your embargo on flying carpets."

Arthur sighed deeply. "I sent him an owl about that just last week. If I've told him once I've told him a hundred times: Carpets are defined as a muggle artifact by the Registry of Proscribed Charmable Objects, but will he listen?"

Boston looked to Kat as if to ask about flying carpets. Kat thought back to that muggle movie about a genie and a magic flying carpet and just nodded her head in confirmation. They were pretty much the same.

"I doubt it," said Barty, accepting a cup from Percy. "He's desperate to export here."

"Well, they'll never replace brooms in Britain, will they?" said Ludo.

"Ali thinks there's a niche in the market for a family vehicle," said Barty. "I remember my grandfather had an Axminster that could seat twelve, but that was before they were banned, of course."

Kat rolled her eyes. Barty talked as if to say that all the Crouchs were law-abiding wizards, even though the thought was laughable. Everyone knew his own son died in Azkaban after being convicted of supporting He-Who-Much-Not-Be-Named in the first war.

"So, been keeping busy, Barty?" Ludo asked breezily.

"Fairly," said Barty dryly. "Organizing portkeys across five continents is no mean feat, Ludo."

"I expect you'll both be glad when this is over?" Arthur asked.

Ludo Bagman looked shocked. "Glad! Don't know when I've had more fun. Still, it's not as though we haven't got anything to look forward to, eh, Barty? Eh? Plenty left to organize, eh?"

Barty raised one of his graying eyebrows at Ludo. "We agreed not to make the announcement until all the details-"

"Oh details!" scoffed Ludo, waving the word away like a cloud of midges. "They've signed haven't they? All agreed, haven't they? I bet you anything these kids'll know soon enough anyway. I mean, it's happening at Hogwarts-"

"Ludo, we need to meet the Bulgarians, you know," said Barty sharply, cutting Ludo off. "Thank you for the tea, Weatherby."

He pushed his undrunk tea back at Percy and waited for Ludo to rise. Ludo, himself, seemed to be in far less of a rush, struggling to his feet, swigging down the last of his tea, the gold in his pockets chinking merrily.

"See you later!" he said. "I'll be in the Top Box commentating!" He waved, Barty nodded curtly, and both of them Disapparated.

"What's happening at Hogwarts, Dad?" asked Fred at once.

"What are they talking about?" asked George.

"You'll find out soon enough," said Arthur, smiling.

"It's classified information, until such time as the Ministry decides to release it," said Percy snobbishly. "Mr. Crouch was quite right not to disclose it."

"Oh shut up, Weatherby," said Fred.

"Do you know what it is, darling?" George asked, leaning into Kat.

"Nope. Bart doesn't work on this kind of Ministry stuff, and he wouldn't tell me if he knew anyway."

"Shame," Fred said. "Imagine the look on Percy's face if you were to just spit it out right here."

"He'd probably turn purple," commented George.

All three of them shared a laugh and Boston smiled, speculating amongst themselves about what might be waiting for them at school. The options ranged from the winners of the World Cup, coming to teach quidditch (George), to a full-blown Bacchanalia during Christmas (Fred).

Boston had snorted at Fred's idea and the twins looked at her oddly, never hearing any sound come from the girl's throat other than breathing.

A sense of excitement filled the air as the afternoon turned slowly to dusk. By the time the sun was starting to set, the summer air seemed to be buzzing with anticipation, and as darkness covered the thousands of wizards, the last ounce of patients evaporated. Everyone seemed to be using blatant magic and the Ministry was doing little to stop it at this point.

Salesmen were Apparating every few feet, carrying trays and pushing carts filled with fun and fantastic merchandise. There were luminous rosettes, green for Ireland and red for Bulgaria, which were squealing the names of the players. Pointed green hats bedecked with dancing shamrocks, Bulgarian scarves adorned with actual roaring lions, seemed to be on every cart. There were even flags from both countries singing their national anthems as they waved. Boston seemed taken by the tiny models of firebolts that actually flew and the collectible figures of the players that walked across your hand, preening.

"Wicked," said Fred as he came across some Omnioculars. Boston took hold of a pair and looked at them curiously.

"Omnioculars," the salesman said eagerly. "You can replay action, slow everything down, and they flash up a play-by-play breakdown if you need it. Bargain. Only ten Galleons each."

Boston put them back onto the cart.

Kat came up behind her. "Hey, I owe you, yeah?" Then she dropped twenty Galleons into the salesman's waiting hand and took two Omnioculars off the cart. She handed one to George and one to Boston. "We can share if we want," said Kat shrugging.

"No more buying us stuff Kitty Kat," Fred mumbled.

Kat just smiled up at him. "Before or after I give you all what I already bought?"

"Damn it, Kat!" George sounded a little irritated, but his smile gave him away. Boston just rolled her eyes.

Kat handed out her small gifts to each of them. An Ireland scarf for George, with a dancing shamrock on the end, A green and white striped top hat for Fred, who swiftly pulled it over his orange hair, and a model of the firebolt Boston was admiring earlier.

Boston nodded her head towards Kat with a questioning look in her emerald eyes.

"Oh! For me? I got this green and white paint that you can put on your skin and it glows. I also got black and red if you're interested." Kat nudged Boston with her shoulder.

"Wait!" called Fred.

"You're supporting Bulgaria?" George looked shocked.

Boston shook her head and Kat laughed. "No, no. She supports Victor Krum, not Bulgaria."

They made their way back to the tent. Bill, Charlie, and Ginny were all sporting green rosettes, and Arthur was carrying an Irish flag. Kat pulled another green top hat out of her bag and tossed it to Ginny with a wink.

Hermione, Ron, and Harry all burst through the tent, with Omnioculars of their own. They each also had a rosette, and Hermione had gotten a Bulgaria scarf, the lion roaring every now and again. Ron had a dancing shamrock hat as well as a small Victor Krum walking around his hand.

"Alright," Kat said, turning to her friend. "How do you put this on?" She handed the shining pant to Boston who took it gently, trying to hold her other survivors as well. Kat took the Omnioculars and the firebolt from her and waited.

Boston let out a small sigh and moved to the table, motioning for Kat and the boys to follow her.

All three did and stood patiently in front of their dark, brooding friend. Boston looked to Kat first, raising an eyebrow in question.

"You know those football players in the moving box?" she asked. Boston nodded a grin on her face. "Well, can I have those little stripe things on my cheeks like them?" Boston nodded again and took the small applicator from the paint and began drawing four lines on Kat's face in green and white. Boston nodded when she was done, and Kat smiled.

"Can I get a whole shamrock on my face?" Fred asked excitedly. Boston let out a sarcastic sigh and nodded. Fred grinned like a fool while Boston smeared green all over his cheeks and forehead, covering his chin and nose. A large green shamrock soon shone on his face, but Boston was not done. She filled in the remainder of his face with white, making him look as pale as Professor Binns. Boston smiled triumphantly at her work.

George smirked at his brother as he came to stand in front of Boston. "I'll just have what Kat got," he said. "Not trying to blind the players like Freddie." Boston raised an eyebrow and pulled her lips in a thin, knowing line. She painted identical stripes on George's face as she had on Kat's.

Once she was done, Kat had placed Boston's souvenirs on the table and grabbed the paint from her. "Your turn," she declared. Boston's eyes widened a bit, but Kat just took the paint and started in. On the right side of Boston's face was a black stripe across her cheek. On the left in red, was the number 7, Victor Krum's number. "Oh, it's beautiful." Kat beamed down at Boston who just smiled and stood, gathering her stuff from the table and taking it to her bunk. She handed the Omnioculars to Kat to put in her bag for the game.

Ron called across the room, "Hey, I want that too!"

He trotted to the table and placed himself in the chair Boston was just in. "Alright, what do you want?" Kat asked.

Ron thought for a moment. "I want what Boston has but a K instead of a 7 and red and black stripes."

"Can do." Kat quickly painted Ron's face. Ron smiled up at her the way all fourteen-year-old boys smile at their older brothers' female friends.

And then a deep, booming gong sounded somewhere beyond the woods, and at once, green and red lanterns blazed into life in the trees, lighting a path to the field.

"It's time!" said Arthur, looking as excited as any of them. "Come on, let's go!"


	12. Family is Complicated

Chapter 12: Family is Complicated

Clutching their purchases, Arthur Weasley in the lead, they all hurried into the wood, following the lantern-lit trail. There were sounds of thousands of other wizards moving all around them, shouting and laughing, singing and joking. The atmosphere of feverish excitement was highly infectious; none of the kids could keep a grin from their face, even Boston flashed a toothy smile around while they all made their way towards the stadium.

After twenty minutes of walking, talking, and joking loudly, they at last emerged on the other side of the wood to stand in the long-reaching shadow of the gigantic stadium. Kat could only see a little amount of the immense gold walls surrounding the field, but she could still tell that all of Hogwarts could have fit inside, and that included the forbidden forest.

"Seats a hundred thousand," said Arthur to Harry. Kat looked around at the messy-haired boy in the glasses whose eyes were big as Quaffles. "Ministry task force of five hundred have been working on it all year. Muggle Repelling Charms on every inch of it. Every time Muggles have got anywhere near here all year, they've suddenly remembered urgent appointments and had to dash away again . . . bless them," he added fondly, leading the way to the nearest entrance, which was already surrounded by a swarm of shouting witches and wizards.

"Excellent seats!" said a Ministry witch at the entrance when she checked the tickets. "Straight upstairs, Arthur, as high as you can go."

The stairs into the stadium were carpeted with a rich purple. They clambered upwards with the rest of the crowd, which slowly filtered away through doors into the stands to their left and right.

Kat started to lag behind a little, getting winded from all the stairs and Boston turned back to laugh at her for her lack of athleticism.

Boston nodded her head up the stairs and pointed at her own back, indicating to Kat to jump on.

Kat gave her a smile and jumped as high as she could, wrapping her legs around Boston's waist and gripping her shoulders. Boston hooked her arms under Kat's knees and lifted her a bit to sit just above her hip bones. Kat leaned forward into Boston and rested her head on her shoulder, draping her arms over Boston's shoulders and interlocking her fingers.

"You're too good to me, Boston," Kat mused.

Boston just smiled and shrugged.

They made their way up even more, balloons following them every now and again, when Kat heard Ron from up ahead say, "Blimey Dad, how far up are we?"

"Let's put it this way," a voice came from below them, "if it rains, you'll be the first to know." Everyone looked down to see Lucius, Draco, and Narcissa Malfoy.

Boston came to stand on the landing with Ron, Harry, and Hermione, and Kat jumped off her back. Everyone else had stopped on the stairs above them.

Lucius looked like his normal pompous self, opting to ignore the rule about muggle wear, and wore a robe of deep black that seemed to soak up all other color. His long, straight, white-blond hair hung perfectly as he looked up at them all smirking. His hand rested on his walking stick that Kat knew held his wand.

Draco wore a black suit that suited him nicely but seemed a bit old for her 14-year-old cousin, Kat thought.

Narcissa looked like her normal regal self, a pinched expression on her face. Her two-toned black and white hair was wrapped in an elegant knot at the base of her neck and a long black dress covered her milk-white skin.

"We are in the Minister's box," called Draco, "by personal invitation of Cornelius Fudge himself."

"Don't boast, Draco!" said Lucius, jabbing the snakehead of his walking stick harshly into his son's stomach. "There's no need with these people."

Kat ignored her uncle and called, "Cissy!"

"Hello Katherine," Narcissa called back, watching in horror as her niece swung one of her legs over the railing, then the other, lowering herself to their landing. Kat gave her stoic aunt a bone-crushing hug then looked to her younger cousin and reached up to ruffle his pale hair.

"Your father did not mention you would be here," Lucius sneered at her.

Kat waved him off. "Oh don't you worry Lucy, he didn't know."

Lucius started to say something again, but Kat turned away from him and faced Draco. "Minister's box is exciting!" said Kat. "The Weasleys were kind enough to invite me and Boston, but we will see you after, Draco, yeah?"

Draco looked to his father over Kat's head. Of course he was taller than her. "Yeah, maybe Warner, we'll see." Kat rolled her eyes. Draco was always distant when his father was around to see.

"How is darling Vega?" asked Narcissa.

Kat sighed. "Oh she and Bart are the same as always."

Narcissa nodded knowingly. "Well," she started, "with everything happening this year, I know you will be staying at Hogwarts over Holiday, but please feel free to send an owl if you need anything."

"Will do, Cissy!" Kat beamed at her aunt and wondered what she knew about Hogwarts, but knew better than to ask. "Give me a boost, Draco?" she asked, indicating to the rail above.

"I'm sure you could just," he started but stopped with an exasperated look from Kat. He interlocked his fingers in a basket formation and bent his knees. Kat put one foot in his hands and he lifted her quickly as she jumped and grabbed the railing above. Boston helped pull her over the top with a thin drawn line where her mouth used to be.

"See you later!" Kat called down as they all made to continue up the stairs.

"Do enjoy yourself," Lucius called sinisterly, as the head of his cane smacked down, pinning Harry's jacket between it and the railing, "while you can."

Boston looked practically feral at this. Lucius released the boy and gave a smile that was more of a sneer. They all turned away, Hermione shooting them a rude look as they went to climb the stairs again.

Nearly all the way up at the top, the group ran into Amos and Cedric. Boston turned a glorious shade of red that looked very similar to Charlie's hair.

"Just a little farther to go," said Cedric with a smile. Boston dipped her head slightly at him as they continued on.

They reached the very top of the stadium soon after, right as Ludo was giving opening remarks about the World Cup. Amos and Arthur were up ahead talking amongst themselves about the event as a whole and how well everything had gone. Cedric turned to talk to Bill and Charlie about who everyone was supporting and who they thought would actually win.

"Yeah, the four trouble makers even put galleons on the game," Bill commented.

Kat leaned over the railing to get a better look at the oldest Weasley. "Did you just call Boston and I trouble makers?" There was a mocking quality to her voice.

A smile spread across the man's face and he shook his head, making the fang hanging from his ear hit lightly against his jaw. "You two are almost worse than Fred and George and you know it, Kat."

Boston scowled at the man but Kat just laughed. "Oh please Billiam, we are angels and everyone knows it."

"Sure, if by angels you mean poltergeists, then yeah, Boston and you are angels," Charlie said. Cedric let out a breathy laugh that had the hard shell of Boston's features soften and red crept up her neck.

"Watch it!" Kat jokingly warned. "Peeves wouldn't appreciate us encroaching on his territory."

The Hogwarts poltergeist Peeves was legendary. Prankster extoridinare, only the twins really rivaled the spirit in terms of mischief and troublesome behavior. Peeves had been at Hogwarts longer than anyone could remember and loved messing with the students, pushing Kat through the trick step and starting a food fight in the great hall by throwing pudding at Boston, Peeves seemed to love messing with Argus Filch, Hogwarts caretaker, the most. Their "war" against each other was one of the funnier things Kat had experienced at Hogwarts.

They finally settled in their seats; Percy, closest to Arthur, had Bill and Charlie on his other side. Cedric took up the next seat, and somehow Boston ended up in the seat next to him. Kat smiled at her friend but also felt a little bit of pain. There was Hermione, Harry, and Ron between them. Kat took the seat next to Ginny who in turn seemed to have fought off George and Fred for that seat.

They had had to duck under a beam holding up one of the massive lights on their way to their seats. Both Kat and Fred had bashed their heads on the beam, as neither of them were paying much attention to where they were going and were far more interested in the incredible scene around them.

They probably looked a little odd, like a long line of kids smiling from ear to ear and tackling each other for better seats. George hoped that it would always be like this. Their strange family, everyone with a smile on their face, even Boston.


	13. The Quidditch World Cup

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok. JK owns HP. I own OCs. Great talk.
> 
> So I am not very good at writing sports things because, well, I am the 90 pound weakling that needs beef cake. So...
> 
> But I hope you like it. Very clearly went by canon for this whole chapter.

Chapter 13: The Quidditch World Cup

George watched Kat and Fred both rub their heads carefully as they sat. He chuckled slightly to himself, wondering if either of them had noticed the other was mirroring them.

George didn't mind overly that he was sat at the end of the row, but there was still that all too familiar ping of jealousy in his stomach that stopped him from thoroughly enjoying the view around him.

It wasn't that Fred had ever given him a reason to be jealous, quite the opposite, actually. Fred had always gone out of his way to make sure George was on equal footing, neither of them feeling like an extra. It was just on nights like this, when his twin unknowingly thwarted an unvoiced desire of his.

Kat sat happily, her short hair mussed slightly where she had been rubbing it. She was talking to Ginny about one thing or another. He sent a look down the line of friends and family to see Boston was staring at him.

Though, it wasn't how she normally stared at him, with thinly veiled anger and contempt. This time there was a small smirk on her face.

George felt a blush creep up his neck and spread across his cheeks. He had a feeling that Boston knew, and it was only a matter of time before Kat knew too.

The sound of Kat's laugh jolted him out of his fear for a moment. It wouldn't be a bad thing if she knew.

An advertisement for Mrs. Scowar's All Purpose Magical Mess Remover flashed on the black shimmer board on the other side of the arena. Fred saw it at the same time, turning to his twin.

"You know, it would be nice to come up with something that can't be removed. You know, like joke ink. You spill it on someone, and they can't get the stain out no matter how much they try," Fred said.

"Do I need to tell you all the reasons that's a bad idea," George asked.

Fred just shook his head, his hat flopping on his head. "No no no. Hear me out. Right, so we'll make it so it doesn't get stuck to skin or anything, just sort of wrecks clothes."

"We'd have to test it on skin," George said, more thinking out loud than anything else.

"I'm sure we could find someone to test it on." George looked at his brother and shook his head, a smile creeping onto his face.

"As long as we keep it away from anyone who might kill us if it goes wrong," George said.

Fred laughed and clapped his twin on the back.

Suddenly, Ludo Baggman's voice boomed over the excited din of the stadium. "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome! Welcome to the final of the 422 Quidditch World Cup!"

Everyone was screaming and cheering at this. Even Boston was clapping loudly from her seat. The last advertisement was whipped from the large blackboard, Burtie Botts Every Flavored Beans, and was replaced by a scoreboard reading Ireland 0 Bulgaria 0.

"And now, without further ado, allow me to introduce the Bulgarian national team mascots!"

To the right, George saw the stands where a solid wall of scarlet, the crowd started to roar louder than anyone had before.

"What do you think they brought?" Ginny asked.

"Oh shit," Kat breathed at the same time Fred said, "Veela."

100 Veela started gliding out onto the field below. They were women, but not women at the same time. No human woman looked like that. They were too perfect, too bright, they almost seemed to shine with some sort of inner light, and their hair seemed to move on a phantom wind.

George was quick to stick his fingers in his ears before the music started. He turned to Fred to make sure he did the same, only to find that Kat had not, and neither it seemed, had Ginny. It wouldn't have been a problem usually if the girls didn't, seeing as the Veela only affected people who were attracted to women. Yet, both girls seemed to be entranced, pulling themselves closer to the edge of the stands. Kat had one foot braced on the railing as if she were about to jump down again, only this time there was no platform below her, just open air.

Fred seemed to see the same thing and sprung into action, pulling Ginny off the railing before she swung a leg over. George could see his brother gritting his teeth against the music of the Veela, trying to keep hold of their little sister.

Boston herself had crawled over everyone to hold Kat and Harry back, and Hermione had a hold of Ron. An amused sort of look passed through the faces of all the other Weasleys except Percy, who seemed to think he was better than all the rest.

Soon the music died down and the Veela stopped their hypnotic dancing. Fred let go of Ginny, who had turned very red in the face.

Boston had set Kat down and was glaring, hand still gripping Harry's arm.

"You like girls?" Ginny asked Kat tentatively.

Kat looked down at the youngest ginger with a wide smile. "Course I do. What's not to like?"

Ginny fidgeted in her seat for a moment. "I thought you liked boys."

"I do," Kat said matter-of-factly.

"And that's okay?" Ginny asked.

George's chest hurt slightly, watching his baby sister be so nervous asking about this.

Kat looked at her with soft, tired eyes. "I mean, Bart and Vega don't know or anything, but I don't think it's a problem." Kat tucked a strand of hair behind her ear only for it to fall back into its original spot. "Can't really help it, you know. So, it sort of has to be okay because it's how I feel. And I know the people I love and the ones who love me won't find an issue with it."

Ginny nodded. "So it's okay if I like both?"

"Ginger. Please. You're going to have the whole of the wizarding world crawling over themselves just to get a chance with you. Of course it's okay." Kat got very excited for a moment. "Think about it this way. Now you will have twice as many people in love with you."

Ginny laughed a little and her eyes shot to Harry for a short moment. "What about Boston?" Ginny asked suddenly.

"What about her?" Kat raised her eyebrows.

Ginny shrugged. "Well, is she uncomfortable with you liking girls?"

Kat laughed. "Of course not! It would be like you being uncomfortable that your brothers like girls."

Ginny just nodded, mulling this over.

"Hey Gin," George started.

"You know we love you," Fred continued.

"No matter what," George finished.

She smiled. "Yeah, I know. Just, maybe don't tell mum?"

George knew why; Molly was not the most flexible of people when it came to changing her plans. "Course not. That's yours to tell."

Fred turned to George then. "Did you know about Ginny?" He whispered.

George shook his head. "Did you know about Kat?" He whispered back. Fred shook his head as well.

They didn't have much time to contemplate this. "And now," Ludo Baggman's voice boomed, "kindly put your wands in the air for the Irish International Team's mascots."

Coming out of the sky was a large green and gold ball of light zooming into the stands, doing a full circuit of the stadium before splitting in two, either one hurtling towards the goalposts. A rainbow arched between the two balls of light. It was almost as glorious as a fireworks display.

As the rainbow faded and fizzled, the balls of light came back together to form a tremendous shimmering shamrock in the sky. Golden rain seemed to be falling from it. It wasn't until the shamrock was over their little group, did George realize that it was actual gold coils raining from the shamrock.

"Now that's a way to gain favor," George commented with a smile. He looked over to Fred, who had flipped his hat upside down to catch more coins. Further down the line, Ron was doing the same.

"They're leprechauns!" Ginny exclaimed, pointing up at the shamrock, trying not to get pelted in the eye with coins.

George looked up as well, seeing she was right. The whole of the shamrock was comprised of tiny leprechauns in little red vests. Each one had a gold coin in its hands, and some looked as if they were deliberately throwing the coins at people's heads.

Fred slapped George on the arm and pointed towards Boston, who at that moment was glaring at the shamrock. He wondered why for a moment, only to then see a split just above her eyebrow. A coin must have done that. Fred was laughing, and George supposed it might have been a little funny if she hadn't looked so murderous.

Cedric saw it and offered to fix it for her. She just shook her head and wiped at the gash, blood smudging into her hairline. George wondered why she wouldn't let him fix it for her.

Soon the shamrock started to dissolve, and the leprechauns began to drift down onto the field, on the opposite side of the Veela.

"And now! Ladies and gentlemen, kindly welcome the Bulgarian national Quidditch team! I give you, Dimitrov." Dimitrov wore the traditional scarlet robes, but he was moving so fast he was blurred as he shot out onto the field.

"Ivanova!" Baggman called as the female chaser blurred her way into the stands. "Zograf! Levski! Vulchanov! Volkov! And… Krum!"

The whole Bulgarian team was now circling quickly around the field, showing off to all of the fans. Krum did a few tricks, and soon the blackboard was filled with a large drawing of Viktor as he flew. It seemed as though the whole stadium was yelling, shaking the stands themselves.

George yanked the omnioculars out of Fred's hands and zoomed in on Viktor Krum. He had a very bird like face and a perpetually grumpy look about him. He was only a little older than Fred and himself, but here he was, playing quidditch in front of 100,000 witches and wizards.

"And now," Ludo Baggman's voice boomed again, "please great the Irish national Quidditch team." It was amazing. As Ludo called their names, they flew in from right above George's head. "Presenting, Connolly! Ryan! Troy! Mullet! Moran! Quigley! And… Lynch!"

Fred was yelling over the railing, no longer seated. No one was sitting in their group except perhaps Percy.

"And here, all the way from Egypt, our referee. Acclaimed chair wizard of the International Association of Quidditch, Hassan Mostafa!"

A small bald wizard with an alarmingly large mustache strode onto the field in gold robes and a silver whistle.

Mostafa brought out with him the quidditch crate and his own broom. Once he got to the middle of the field, he dropped the crate and mounted his broom. He gave the crate a quick kick, and the lid swung open, and the balls all shot into the air, the scarlet red quaffle, the two black bludgers, and the tiny golden snitch all went in different directions.

Mostafa caught the quaffle and flew to the height of the hoops in the center of the field. Mostafa had that whistle in his mouth, and it let out a shriek at the same moment he threw the quaffle even higher into the air.

"They're off!" Baggman announced. "And it's Mullet. Troy. Moran. Dimitrov. Back to Moran. Troy. Levski. Moran!"

It was Quidditch on a whole other level. George looked at Fred whose face was cracked wide open with pure joy. Ginny was wide eyed and enthralled with the speed at which this game was being played. Kat was cheering for, well George wasn't very sure what she was cheering for, but she was enjoying herself nonetheless. Further down, Boston had utterly forgotten about the cut above her eyebrow and was jumping and whistling at the game below.

Fred snatched the omnioculars back and started to spout out the names of the plays in real time.

"Hawk's Head attacking formation!" George looked at the Irish chasers as they started bearing down on the Bulgarians. Troy was in the center of the Irish chasers and a little ahead of Mullet and Moran. "Porscov Ploy," Fred called. Troy made as though to dart upward with the quaffle, drawing away the Bulgarian chaser Ivanova, but instead, he dropped the quaffle to Moran.

One of the Bulgarian Beaters, Volkov, hit a passing bludger hard at Moran, but Moran was faster, ducking to avoid the bludger, and dropped the quaffle. Levski, who was soaring beneath, caught it.

"Levski. Ivanova. Moran. Mullet. Dimitrov. Troy. Levski. Troy," Baggman called over the cheers from the crowd. Troy had the quaffle and was flying fast toward the Bulgarian Keeper, Zograf. "Troy scores!" The stadium shook violently with the roar of applause and cheers. "10-0 to Irland!" Troy punched the air once and the game was back on in an instant.

The Irish chasers were far better than the Bulgarian. They worked as a unit instead of individuals. He almost thought to take notes just to try and implement this for the Gryffindor Quidditch Team. Without Oliver Wood at school anymore they would be looking for a new captain.

Within the next ten minutes, Ireland had scored twice more, bringing their lead up to 30-0. Fred had taken to berating the Bulgarian team at that point and even throw a comment towards Boston. She simply rolled her eyes and gave him an obscene hand gesture.

George was growing slightly concerned that Fred might take his dislike for Boston too far one day and say something that Kat or Boston would hear, but seeing as Boston had the smile back on her face in an instant, he knew that she could handle any of the crap Fred threw her way.

The game became faster and more volatile. Volkov and Vulchanov were whacking the bludgers as fiercely as possible at the Irish chasers. It was starting to impact the Irish from using some of their best moves. Twice they were forced to scatter or be hit.

Ivanova finally was able to break through their ranks and dodge the keeper, Ryan, and scored Bulgaria's first goal.

"Fingers in your ears, boys!" George could hear his father call from all the way at the other end of their little line. This time Kat and Ginny followed suit. The Veela started to dance in celebration. After the excitement, the game continued with Bulgaria in possession of the quaffle.

"Dimitrov. Levski. Dimitrov. Ivanova. Oh! I say!" Baggman roared. 100,000 gasps filled the stadium as the two Seekers, Krum and Lynch, plummeted through the center of the chasers. They were moving too fast. They must have seen the snitch.

"They're going to crash!" George heard Hermione scream.

She was half right. At the very last second, Viktor Krum pulled out of the dive and spiraled off. Lynch, however, hit the ground with a dull thud that could be heard throughout the stadium. A groan resounded through the fans wearing green.

"Damn! Viktor was fainting!" Kat bellowed around the same time Arthur did.

"It's timeout!" yelled Baggman's voice. "As trained medi witches run onto the field to examine Aidan Lynch."

"He'll be okay, he only got plowed," Charlie said reassuringly. "Which was what Krum was after, of course."

George and Fred looked at each other then, the same thought going through both their minds. Krum never saw the snitch. "Ronski Defensive Faint," they said together. Sure they had heard of it, but they had never seen it in action before. Krum had to be the best flyer they had ever seen.

Lynch was being given revival potions on the ground as Krum was circling up ahead. He was looking for the snitch, uninterrupted by Lynch.

Lynch got to his feet at last to loud cheers from the Ireland fans, mounted his firebolt, and kicked back off into the air.

His revival seemed to snap through the Irish team. When Mustafa blew his whistle again the chasers moved into action with a skill unrivaled than anything seen so far in the game.

Fifteen intense minutes later, Ireland had made ten more goals. 130-10. It was incredible. Of course, this only made the game turn dirty.

Mullet shot towards the goal post, the quaffle under her arm, the Bulgarian Keeper, Zograf, flew up to meet her. George wasn't sure what actually happened, as it was over too quickly, but a scream of rage came from those wearing green, and Mostafa's shrill whistle filled the air. A foul.

"And Mostafa takes the Bulgarian Keeper to task for cobbing. Excessive use elbows," Baggman informed the crowd. "And, yes, it's a penalty to Ireland."

The leprechauns, who had risen angrily into the air like a pissed off flock of birds when Mullet had been fouled, now darted together to form the words, "Hahaha."

The Veela on the other side of the field, lept to their feet, tossed their hair angrily, and started to dance again. Everyone, apart from Hermione and Boston, stuffed their fingers into their ears. It wasn't as if they had to for long as it seemed this dance was more directed at one person.

"Look at the referee," George told Kat. Kat looked down at the field to see Hassan standing in front of the Veela, flexing his muscles and smoothing his mustache. Her laugh filled the air.

"Now we can't have that," Baggman said, but he didn't sound all that put out. "Somebody slap the referee."

A mediwizard came tearing across the field, his fingers stuffed into his own ears, and kicked Mostafa hard in the shins. Mostafa seemed to come to his senses. His face had become beet red as he started shouting at the Veela, who had stopped dancing and were looking mutinous.

"And, unless I'm much mistaken, Mostafa is actually attempting to send off the Bulgarian team mascots," said Baggman's voice. "Now, there's something we haven't seen before. Oh! This could turn nasty."

It did.

The Bulgarian Beaters, Volkov and Vulchanov, landed on either side of Mostafa and began arguing furiously with him. They were waving their hands towards the leprechauns who were now forming the words, "Hehehe."

Mostafa wasn't pleased with the Bulgarians' arguments however, he was jabbing his finger into the air, clearly telling them to get flying again. When they refused, he gave two short blasts of his whistle.

"Two penalties for Irland," shouted Baggman, and the Bulgarian crowd howled with anger. "And Volkov and Vulchanov had better get back on those brooms. Yes. There they go. And Troy takes the quaffle."

Now, this was where George thought the playing got really exciting. Playing now reached a level of ferocity beyond anything they had yet seen. The Beaters on both sides were now swinging without mercy. Volkov and Vulchanov in particular seemed not to care if their clubs made contact with bludgers or humans as they swung them violently through the air.

Dimitrov shot straight at Moran, who had the quaffle, nearly knocking her off her broom.

"Foul!" roared the Irish supporters as one, all standing up in a great wave of green.

"Foul!" echoed Ludo Baggman's magically magnified voice. "Dimitrov skins Moran. Deliberately flying to collide there, and it's got to be another penalty. Yes. There's the whistle."

The leprechauns had taken to the air again, but this time they formed a giant hand, which was making a very rude gesture that George had seen Boston make earlier.

At this, the Veela lost control. Instead of dancing, they launched themselves across the field and began throwing what looked like fire that came from their hands at the leprechauns. It didn't take the omnioculars to see that the Veela were no longer beautiful. Instead, their faces were elongating into sharp, cruel, beaked bird heads, and long scaly wings were bursting from their shoulders.

"And that boys," Arthur yelled, "is why you should never go for looks alone."

Ministry wizards were flooding into the field to separate the Veela and the leprechauns, but with little success. Meanwhile, the pitch battle below was nothing compared to the one taking place above. George's head was darting back and forth, trying to follow the quaffle as it changed hands at the speed of one of Boston's hexes.

"Levski. Dimitrov. Moran. Troy. Mullet. Ivanova. Moran again. Moran. Moran scores!" But the cheers of the Irish supporters were barely heard over the shrieks of the Veela, the blasts now issuing from the Ministry officials' wands, and the furious roars from the Bulgarians.

The game recemenced immediately. Now Levski had the quaffle. Now Dimitrov. The Irish Beater, Quigley, swung heavily at a passing bludger and hit it as hard as possible towards Krum, who did not duck quickly enough. It hit him full in the face. There was a deafening groan from the ground and a gagging sound coming from Kat. Krum's nose looked broken, there was blood everywhere.

Hassan Mostafa didn't blow his whistle. He had become distracted and George didn't really blame him all that much. One of the Veela had thrown a handful of fire and set his broomtail alight.

"He's injured!" Fred bellowed next to him.

George was right there with him, even though they were supporting Irland. Viktor Krum was the most exciting player on the field.

Ron could be heard yelling, "Time out! Oh come on! He can't play like that! Look at him!"

Boston had a strange look about her. George knew she supported Krum and was probably angry about him not being seen to, but there was something unreadable in her eyes.

"Look at Lynch!" Harry yelled.

The Irish Seeker had suddenly gone into a dive and George was quite sure that this was no Ronski Faint. This was the real thing.

"He's seen the snitch!" Harry declared. "He's seen it! Look at him go!"

Half the crowd seemed to have realized it as well. The Irish supporters stood again in that great sea of green, cheering their Seeker on. But Krum was on his tail. How he could see with all that blood in his face, George would never know. He was drawing level with Lynch now as the pair of them hurtled towards the ground.

"They're going to crash!" shrieked Hermione.

"They're not!" roared Ron.

"Lynch is!" yelled Harry.

And he was right. For the second time, Lynch hit the ground with tremendous force and was immediately stampeded by an angry hoard of Veela.

"The snitch! Where's the snitch?" bellowed Charlie down the row.

"He's got it! Viktor's got it!" shouted Kat.

"It's all over!" yelled Ginny.

Krum, his red robes shining with blood from his nose, was rising gently in the air, his fists in the air, a glint of gold in one. The scoreboard was flashing Bulgaria 160 Ireland 170 across the crowd, who didn't seem to realize what happened. Then slowly, the grumbling from the Irish supporters grew louder and louder and erupted into screams of delite.

"Ireland wins!" Baggman shouted, who, like the Irish, seemed to be taken aback by the outcome. "Krum gets the snitch. But Irland wins! Good lord. I don't think any of us expected that!"

"Georgie!" Kat called. "Freddie! Do you know what this means?" Fred looked a bit confused but realization dawned on George.

"We won," George breathed.

"Of course we won," Ginny started.

"No, we won the bet!" George explained.

"What'd he catch the snitch for?" Ron bellowed from down the row, but George was too caught up in winning this bet that he didn't hear anything above the sound of blood rushing in his ears.

Boston had rushed over to Kat, a large smile on her face and they did some sort of strange jumping thing where they held hands and bounced in place.

"We'll have to go to the Minister's box to talk to Ludo," Kat was saying. She started pulling Boston towards the stairs, hitting her head on the beam again. Fred and George followed as they made their way, down and around towards the Minister's Box where Ludo Baggman was announcing from.

The four teens had made it to the top box by the time the teams had been announced and they were now both shaking hands with all the important people.

Baggman put his wand to his throat and said, "Quietis," then spoke in a normal volume to the four of them. "They'll be talking about this one for years," he said horsley. "A really unexpected twist. Shame it couldn't have lasted longer. Ah yes. Yes. I own you...how much?"

George and his twin wore identically wide grins and their hands where outstretched. Boston looked harshly at Ludo, still not happy with him it seemed, and Kat just smirked at him. George had seen that very smirk on Malfoy plenty of times.

By the end of the engagement, all four teens had bags full of gold that they had to lug all the way down the stairs.

"Bye Draco! See you soon, yeah?" Kat called before they left. George didn't wait to hear the rest of the conversation, neither did Boston, who had a pinched look about her.

"You don't like them much either do you?" George asked the scowling girl.

Boston shook her head.

"It's the one downside to Kat. She's attached to them," George commented.

Boston nodded.

George noticed a few stray hairs had come out of that ponytail of hers. "It'll get better when we leave school and she doesn't have to do all the pureblood things."

Boston snorted, then panicked. She shot George an apologetic look and moved faster down the stairs, leaving him to wonder what all that was about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wonder what that was about.


	14. World On Fire

Chapter 14: World On Fire

Arthur had let everyone under his care stay up far later than Molly would have, even young Ginny, who had only ever stayed up later than this during parties in Gryffindor tower. This found all 12 people celebrating the Irish win against Bulgaria, and while it was grand the Irish won, no one could stop talking about Viktor catching the snitch, as it had never really happened before and probably wouldn't happen again in their lifetime.

Cedric had opted to celebrate with his father in their own tent. Boston had done her best not to sulk about this, and no one but Kat would have picked up the subtle sadness that her usually stoney face was exhibiting.

It was the slightly vacant look in her normally bright eyes, and the lack of fire in her glare that tipped Kat off. She didn't say anything about it of course, Boston wouldn't have wanted to "talk" about it anyway.

Harry was sat at the table talking with Hermione, but it didn't look like they were talking about Quidditch, but something rather serious. Hermione had that look of worry and compilation she always had when trying to solve a problem she had yet to read about.

Bill and Charlie were taking shots of firewhiskey and trying to get Percy to join in. Percy vehemently refused all offers with a disgusted look on his face. Kat, though she had never really connected with Percy, she had never thought him as unbearable as she did now that he was working for the Ministry. Even when he was Head Boy, he was less self righteous than he was now.

Kat and Boston were in the kitchen, Boston raiding for food and Kat sitting on the counter watching the commotion. Kat swung her legs slightly, her joggers bouncing off the cupboards quietly. Boston had one hand full of chips and her mouth was filled with the orange she had found.

Fred and George had taken to a strange sort of celebrating which involved dancing like a one legged yeti and flapping around a flag like a cape. It was comical in their typical sense but entertaining enough for everyone to enjoy.

Ron was trying to steal away the firewhiskey from Bill and Charlie in order to drink it himself. Ron, unlike Bill and Charlie, could not hold his liquor to save his life.

Being in Gryffindor gave one the opportunity to try alcohol at a younger age than what would be considered a good idea. Ron had been eager to try it from the very start, but as everyone soon found out, couldn't keep any of it down for long.

Ginny was shifting between spending time in the kitchen and dancing with her brothers. It was nice to see her this happy and carefree. Out of all her siblings, Ginny clung to Fred and George the most. They never treated her like she was too young or too much of a girl to join in on their fun, only like she was family.

Arthur was messing with the fireplace with the muggle matches.

There was so much celebrating going on outside the tent, the noises all mixed together and it was a surround sound of drunken joy.

Hermione had just gone into the girls' bunks when Harry and Ron had dragged Charlie into a conversation about Quidditch. It turned into those three chanting "Krum," over and over in some sort of off kilter beat that Kat couldn't figure out.

Boston and Kat emerged from the kitchen to find George and Fred . . . well the polite term would be singing. They just repeated the same sound over and over to a repetitive melody.

Arthur had just gone to look outside when Ron got up on an ottomon and announced, "There's no one like Krum."

Fred and George stopped their singing and dancing and Fred asking in a mocking tone, "Krum?"

"Dumb Krum?" asked George.

Ron then declared, "He's like a bird the way he rides the wind." This caused the twins to circle him, flapping their arms like wings muttering Viktor's name. "He's more than an athlete," Fred threw his flag on top of Ron's head, "he's an artist."

"I think you're in love, Ron," said Ginny teasingly.

"Oh shut up," said Ron.

Without hesitation the twins started to sing. George started in with the beginning of a well known childrens' teasing song. "Viktor, I love you."

"Viktor, I do," Fred continued, getting down on his knee as if to serenade Ron.

Of course everyone joined in for the last known lines. "When we're apart, my heart beats only for you." Percy just rolled his eyes.

The noise outside got louder as Ron threw the Ireland flag at George.

"Sounds like the Irish have got their pride on," Fred said.

Kat was laughing with Hermione and Ginny about how ridiculous Ron's love for Victor Krum was, when Arthur ran back into the tent, very serious.

"Stop! Stop it!" Arthur didn't yell because, well he was Arthur, but there was nothing of the fun man playing with matches in his voice. He pulled George and Ron apart as they were hitting each other with a couch cushion. "It's not the Irish." Arthur moved to Ginny and grabbed her hand. "We've gotta get out of here. Now!"

Bill, Charlie, and Percy instantly were next to their father asking him what was going on. Kat raced to grab her bag and stuffed Boston's things into it roughly. She pulled Charlie's jacket over her shoulders and went back to Boston and Hermione.

Arthur let out a short sigh. "Death Eaters." Kat saw Boston turn so white, she was worried the girl would pass out. "The Ministry will need your help," he told his oldest children.

"Of course," Bill answered for the three of them.

"Let's go!" Arthur called as he dragged Ginny towards the front of the tent.

It was the fire Kat noticed first. Not the screams. She had gotten used to drowning out noise, but when she let it in…

A tear snuck out of her eye, but she brushed it away. From where most people were running from, Kat could see a group of wizards in dark cloaks with masks covering their faces, black hats pointed higher than the norm. A few of them were casting fire towards wizards trying to flee and tents, burning everything they touched to the ground.

The ones who weren't burning were in the middle, laughing, wands pointed straight into the air. Kat thought that they were probably a family, the four bodies floating above the Death Eaters, two of them the size of children. Muggles. One of the children's bodies contorted in a strange way. Kat thought she might be sick, but Boston grabbed her hand and forced her to look away just as what had to be the mother had been turned upside down, her nightgown falling to the ground to be trampled beneath the Death Eaters' feet.

Arthur yelled over the screams, "Get back to the Portkey, everybody, and stick together!" He turned and pushed Ginny into the twins arms. "Fred, George! Ginny is your responsibility!" George nodded at his father. "Go!"

George had Ginny by the hand, pulling her towards the hill they had all come from. Fred was right behind them, his wand out in case he had to use it. Kat and Boston were running hand in hand after the three gingers, Ron behind them and Hermione behind him.

"Harry!" Boston stopped. She spun around to look for the dark haired boy but he wasn't there. Kat had stopped with Boston but was trying to pull her along.

"Come on!" Fred yelled not far ahead. Kat turned to him but stayed with Boston. There was a flash of something across his face, then it was gone.

Hermione called out again then screamed. All three of the stopped teens looked to the girl, she had fallen to the ground.

"Mione!" Kat bellowed. She had to get up or she would get trampled.

Boston looked at Kat, then at their hands and gave her an apologetic look. Boston shot a look at Fred, a tight line across her mouth. She ripped her hand out of Kat's grasp and ran towards Hermione.

Kat went to run after her when strong arms wrapped around her waist. She pulled against them and screamed, "Boston!"

"She's got Hermione, Love. We have to go," It was Fred's voice close to her ear, his arms caging her.

She beat her fists against his arms and tried to pull herself away towards the girls. She strained more and more, sure the bruises on her were getting worse by the second, but Fred just held her tighter.

"Get off me!" She wailed at Fred. Boston hadn't gotten to Hermione yet. "Boston!" Kat screamed again as a flash of fire burned a clump of grass to her left. Someone ran into her, moving her sideways. Boston stumbled.

"Boston!"

She kept going towards Hermione, who looked like she was huddled in a ball, trying not to be trampled by the mob.

"Let go!" Kat yelled again, tears were falling freely, blurring her vision. She clawed at Fred's arms this time. "Let me go!"

"We need to go!" Fred yelled at Kat. She was still fighting to get to Boston. "Come on, Love. Please," he begged her.

"You go! We will catch up," Kat tried to argue. She looked back at the retreating figure of her best friend. "Boston!" she screamed so loud her throat burned and she could taste something like metal in her mouth.

Boston reached Hermione and hauled the girl up, righted her, and then grabbed her hand and ran towards Kat and Fred.

Kat was still fighting, intending to meet them in the middle. She heard Fred curse under his breath right before he lifted her and threw her over his shoulder. Fred started running again, away from Boston and Hermione, towards the Portkey.

Fred was fast, even with Kat weighing his and hitting his back as hard as she could. It wasn't long before she couldn't see Boston and Hermione through the crowd. "Let me go!"

"That's not happening," Fred growled.

"I have to get to her!" cried Kat. A choking sob broke through her throat. "Boston!"

"She knows where the Portkey is," Fred rationalized.

"If you do not put me down right now, I swear to Godric, I will never forgive you!" Kat's voice sounded broken.

"I can live with that."

"I hate you!"

"Boston can look after herself," Fred nearly growled.

Kat cried harder, her whole body seeming to shake with her sobs. "Boston!"

Fred's grip in her tightened even more, forcing air out of her lungs. "Fucking shut up, Love. We are almost there."

"I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!" It became a mantra, assaulting Fred's ears.

"I'm not your biggest fan right now either," he gritted out.

He stopped. He dragged her off his shoulder and put her on the ground, but his arms caged her waist again. "Fred!" Kat looked around to see they were at the Portkey. George was silent as he held tight to Ginny's hand still. Ron was pacing nervously back and forth. "Let me go!" she screamed again.

Fred turned them towards the sound of feet running in their direction, one hand freeing itself to hold his wand between them. Kat struggled against the one arm, but his fingers dug into her hip so hard she was sure there would be bruises.

A figure burst through the dark. Kat stopped breathing.

Cedric Diggory was breathing heavily as got to the group, hands on his knees.

"Hermione and Boston?" Fred asked the Hufflepuff. Cedric just shook his head, fear coating his features.

"Dad and the rest of the Ministry are fighting. He told me to come here. I," Cedric stood straight and ran a hand through his hair and shook his head. "I should have stayed to fight."

Kat struggled again as Fred's wand arm came back around her, but it didn't seem like she was trying to run towards the fire anymore. He felt her knees give out and he lowered them both to the ground. She turned in his arms and started hysterically bawling into his sweater. Fred just let her, sending a look to George, who hadn't made a single move.

"I hate you. I hate you. I hate you." Kat just sobbed and sobbed into Fred's sweater. He held her through it.

Fred looked to his brother, who had yet to let go of Ginny's hand. George was looking at the broken girl in Fred's arms. They both knew the truth. Kat didn't hate Fred, not really, but if Boston was hurt, or worse, that was it, they would both lose Kat forever.


	15. Tears Don't Dry

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know the drill.
> 
> I appreciate all your support, honestly, it means so much to me you don't even know.

Chapter 15: Tears Don't Dry

Kat sat there, wrapped in Fred's arms. The smoke from the fires raging down the hill burned her already swollen throat.

She hated Fred.

There were no other words for it. He dragged her away from Boston. In her heart, she knew Boston would be fine, she had to be. It didn't make her feel any better about leaving her behind.

The clearing was eerily quiet as they waited for something, anything to happen. Tense and stiff, the only sound coming from Kat's sniffles.

More thudding footsteps approached and Fred raised his wand again, his other arm now gently holding Kat to him. Then he lowered it. There was shouting but Kat just kept her face buried. "Hey, Love," Fred whispered, "she's here."

Kat's head snapped up, knocking Fred in the chin, and swiveled to see Boston and Hermione walking towards everyone. In a rather graceless move, she flung herself out of Fred's arms and scrambled to get to her feet to run to her friend.

They collided, Kat wrapping her arms tightly around Boston's neck and Boston pulled Kat in by the waist, her arms interlocking behind Kat. They stayed like that for a long moment.

Ron had run to Hermione and was in the process of looking her over when Hermione looked around and saw they were still missing someone. "Harry?"

"No. I thought he was behind you," said Ron.

"No. We got separated. I fell," Hermione explained. "Boston came back to get me." Everyone sent a quick look to the girls who still had not separated.

"He'll get here," George assured everyone. Everyone nodded shallowly, knowing that there was a chance he might not.

Boston tensed but didn't let go. She looked over Kat's shoulder at everyone else, who quietly shifted from foot to foot. She would have to make sure they find Harry, then send an owl home, make sure she was the first to talk to him herself.

Kat released Boston, holding her at arm's length, looking for injuries. Boston was doing the same thing to her friend. There was a bruise forming on Boston's cheek. Kat ran her thumb over it and Boston winced slightly. Boston ran a thumb against Kat's cheek, wiping away the salt tears that hadn't stopped.

Kat's eyes got wide. "Draco and Cissy." Boston just looked at her friend. "I didn't see them," Kat continued. "I have to go find them." Kat started to move back down the hill but Boston stopped her. Kat, her eyebrows coming together, her nostrils flaring, looked at Boston's hands on her arms. "I know you don't like them, but they are my family, as much as anyone," Kat hissed the last part.

Boston didn't move, and her face became unreadable. She cast her eyes, glittering with tears and smoke, to Fred who was watching apprehensively next to George. She motioned with her head for him to come over. Fred did not hesitate and walked to stand behind Kat. Boston pushed her friend into Fred's arms, which caged her in again. Boston saw a look on Kat's face that she had never seen before, but she knew what it was: Betrayal.

Boston nodded and the tall boy took Kat back over to where George and Ginny stood. Ginny looked at Kat and cringed away from the image. Kat had dirt coating her face, sticking around the tear stains. Her eyes, red and bloodshot, didn't move from Boston's face.

Even when Kat and Boston fought, it wasn't like this. It was never like this. Kat was never this quiet.

"Let's sit while we wait," suggested George. No one said anything but they all came closer to the four and they sat in a small group. Boston was the only one who was not sitting. She had turned towards the fires, still blazing, and drew her wand. Kat got the image in her mind again. Warrior Goddess. Boston would protect them for as long as she could.

It was nearly 30 minutes of silence when Arthur, Bill, Charlie, and Percy came up the hill. Boston had raised her wand but lowered it when she saw the sea of red hair.

"Is everyone here?" Arthur asked.

Boston shook her head at the same time George said, "Harry."

Arthur took a quick look around, checking that George was right and that everyone was unharmed. Arthur looked to Boston again, a pleading look in his eyes. She nodded once.

"Right. Bill and I will go find Harry and Charlie and Percy, you get everyone home." Bill nodded at his father.

"We're coming too!" Hermione called, standing quickly with Ron.

"Not a chance," said Arthur.

"We are going. With or without you Mr. Weasley." Hermione stood her ground, stubborn as always.

Boston moved forward as if to say she was going to whether she was welcome or not.

"Don't you dare," Kat growled.

Boston shot her a look that was almost an apology.

"Fred, George, and Cedric can get Ginny and Kat home. You need Percy and I to help dad," said Charlie.

Arthur looked down and shook his head a few times, mulling it over. He glanced at Boston for help but she just looked away. "Fine. You kids get home quickly, your mother is probably worried enough." He looked to the three children he was bringing back into the campground. "Stick to me, you understand?" They nodded.

The Ministry had gotten the Muggle family down and the fire was nearly out, Death Eaters scattered and Ministry officials where now busy with tracking them down. Just over the hill, the campground was black with soot, few flames flickered in the night.

Fred had gotten them both to their feet when a green glow filled the clearing. All faces turned towards the sky.

A giant green skull lit up the sky in a deep green, a snake crawling out of its mouth and slowly twisted itself around, making a figure 8 knot under the skull. It was eerie just how slow it actually moved, as if it wasn't aware of the horrified onlookers.

Boston blanched, taking a step back and falling to the ground, her eyes still on the evil green symbol in the sky. Fred didn't even put up a fight when Kat pushed out of his arms to Boston. Kat fell to her knees next to her friend, scanning her face.

Boston still had her eyes glued to the sky. Kat placed a hand on the dark haired girl's shoulder. Boston's head whipped violently toward Kat, no longer shock, but an unleashed sort of rage in her face.

Then she was off, shooting down the hill towards the origin of the skull faster than what was possible. Kat thought she might have been apportating every few meters to make her trip faster.

"Boston!" The scream ripped from Kat, but the dark haired girl was already gone.

"Damn it!" Bill yelled, looking at his father then at the group. "Get them home now!" he yelled at George.

Bill ran after Boston first, the rest following quickly after, all with wands out. Ron and Hermione were the last Kat saw before the darkness took them from view.

She shot a look to the horrible mark maring the sky and let out a scream that had her tasting blood.

"We're going home, Love," Fred hissed in her ear. He dragged her towards the old boot that George, Ginny, and Cedric were already standing around.

"Just let me go." Kat's voice sounded small and frail.

Fred ignored her. "Grab the boot, I'll set the timer for 10 seconds." Everyone but Kat and Fred grabbed hold of the portkey. With his free hand he waved his wand, muttering the rest charm, and shot out to clutch the boot.

It felt like sidelong apparating, traveling by a portkey she hadn't touched. Like half the world was being ripped away and gravity was a little too strong.

No one landed with any sort of dignity, crashing into the wet earth with ankle shattering force. Fred still held strong to Kat's middle as he rolled to avoid landing on her. She was still crying.


End file.
